


All I Wanted Was to be a Side Character!

by RiceCakeRickAy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Anti-Hero, F/M, Gen, Gore, Isekai, Reincarnation, Swearing, Violence, multiple leads, overpowered lead, parallel worlds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 31,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22595881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiceCakeRickAy/pseuds/RiceCakeRickAy
Summary: "What would you like to be in another world?"
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. [prologue] What Would You like to be in Another World?

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully updated every other week or so

"If you were summoned to another world, what would you want to be?"

On an ordinary afternoon in the park after just another day of school, I, J, was presented this unusual question by my best friend Beatrice.

"Me?" I thought for a moment. "A side character, probably."

Being the adopted son of a billionaire businessman, I was always in the spotlight, whether it was at the private school I attended or parties. As a result of this, I found that there was a certain distance between me and the rest of my class, and the few friends I made were the ones who just didn't care. For that, I respected them.

"you're weird." She said. "What kind of a highschool boy wouldn't want to be the all-powerful main character?"

Triss, that's what she prefers to be called, was just an average public school student who didn't have many friends because of her nerdy hobbies. In other words, she was the exact opposite of me. How we became friends, even I had forgotten.

"What even brought this on? That was so random." I pointed out.

"I was just curious, that's all."

Something about her answer seemed a bit unsatisfied, so I returned her question.

"What about you?" I asked. "what would you want to be?"

Triss thought for a moment.

"I guess a side character, too."

"At least be original." I complained.

"But I would!" Triss insisted. "Side characters get more of the action and excitement! Being powerful enough to stand at the center of the plot would be so boring!"

I wasn't surprised that her motivation was the exact opposite of mine. Unlike me, Triss wished to be in the spotlight, but not as the main focus of it, and instead just enough to feel the excitement of it. In that sense, it was pretty clear that she would want to be a supporting character rather than the one who holds the entirety of the plot on her shoulders.

"I think you're the strange one here." I commented.

"Then why do you want to be a side character?" Triss asked, as if her reason was the only logical one.

"If being the main character means I'll stand above everyone else, then how is that any different from where I am right now?" I reasoned. "I want to be someone who's less important, so I don't have to deal with the responsibilities or problems of someone who stands out so much."

In other words, I just wanted to slack off. My life as the son of a billionaire put me under unreasonable expectations and insane mental stress, and I couldn't even relax for a second without some old lady pointing her bony finger at me and whispering some judgement to her friends. If I had the option to leave all of that behind me and start as just another member of the general population, I totally would have.

In the modern world, a place filled with books, manga, and anime about teenagers traveling to alternate worlds and becoming a hero tasked with defeating a tyrannical Demon Lord, plenty of people have fantasized about such a thing happening to themselves. Being sent to another world, pulled out of the boring lives they were leading in their previous one, and granted powers unequaled by any other being. Triss was right, no normal kid my age could refuse such an opportunity. But after seeing how much someone at the top in a "boring" world had to worry about, I did not want to take on the responsibilities of someone at the top of a fantastical and "fun" world.

"You could at least dream a bit, J." Triss gestured towards the sky. "We're just talking hypotheticals here. You're free to go crazy with your imagination."

"If you're friends with me because of my imagination, you probably got dropped on your head as a kid." I joked.

"Can't argue with that." Triss agreed.

"It's getting late." I moved onto a different subject. "Want me to walk you home?"

"I'll be fine. Worry about yourself." Triss warned jokingly. "who knows what creepy old people will be waiting around for the son of a billionaire to show up to kidnap for ransom?"

"Alright, see you tomorrow." I chuckled.

"Yep."

As Triss disappeared around the corner, I called my driver to pick me up. I did not live within walking distance of the park, which was disappointing considering how nice of a place it was.

It'd suck if I wasn't able to visit the place whenever I'd wanted anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

J sat upright, blinking a couple times to wake himself up. The sun, which usually shined straight into his window at the time he woke up, had already risen high enough to send light into the tiny alleyways that ran between buildings. One look at his clock told J the answer to his question, and he leapt out of bed.

"Shit!" J yelled, rushing through his morning routine. "I'm late!"

That, in itself, was strange. J had an internal clock more accurate than his actual clocks, waking him up exactly an hour before school began every day. This time, however, he had woken up an hour after. Usually, commuting to school took J around fifteen minutes. But without even eating breakfast, he bolted out of his apartment, taking the stairs instead of the elevator down from the fifth floor, and then not even slowing down as he ran the full mile to school, it took roughly half the time. J didn't even have time to go over his homework, or cram for any tests.

Upon setting foot on campus, J noticed that something was off. It was in the middle of second hour, which was when the freshmen had P.E. class out on the field. The field, however, was completely devoid of any sweaty teenagers running through drills and exercises. J didn't think much of this observation, as some days do call for a change of schedule, and continued into the school building, ascending the stairs to the Junior and Senior classrooms. There, J made another observation. The usual sounds of classes, which filled the halls on school days due to the building's paper-thin walls, were not present as J walked towards his second-hour class. He peeked into the room through the small window beside the door before entering, and was glad that he didn't just walk in.

Inside the classroom, two armed men clad in camouflage stood at the podium, where the teacher would have been lecturing from. Said teacher was sprawled out on the ground, blood and brain matter mixing and making a stream from the hole in her head across the floor. The students of the class were all packed like sardines together in the corner, most of them staring at the men's rifles with large, fearful eyes.

J inhaled sharply, attracting the attention of one of the men. He ducked under the window and hoped that he wasn't seen.

"Hey, did you hear that?" The man spoke in a heavy middle eastern accent that sounded like he was almost forcing himself to speak English, just to intimidate the students in the room.

"What?" His partner's accent was possibly even worse.

"That sound, did I imagine it?" The man stepped towards the door.

J silently cursed the building's poor construction. He fumbled around in his pockets in panic, trying to find something, anything, to work with. His hand closed around a small pair of scissors.

As the door was pushed open, J's panicking mind was suddenly emptied of all its thoughts. In their place was one single line of action, a plan that J could see clearly. Moving without a second thought, J rose up and stabbed the pair of scissors through two layers of thick cloth into the man's groin, then grabbed the gun, a millitary-issue AR-15. Without skipping a beat, J shot the man in the chest as if he was simply following a script, and turned to empty the rest of the magazine into the man's partner.

J's body had moved completely on its own, acting on literally nothing. J was confused at how composed his mind was. It was as if this was just an everyday occurrence, like a trip to the corner store. J decided to take advantage of a clear mind, however confusing it was, and take control of the situation. He grabbed his close friend, Zeik.

"What's going on?" J asked.

"I d- don't know." Zeik's voice cracked.

"Were the police called?"

"Nobody had a chance. Those men were saying something about watching for the cops until the bomb was set..." Zeik's eyes widened as he realized what he had just said. "Holy shit!"

"We've gotta get everyone out of here." J threw the rifle towards the windows facing the outside, shattering them. "I know this is the second floor, but everyone just get out of here! Aim for a bush or something, and run as far as you can!"

J's calmness was wearing off, and his panicked thoughts began picking up right where they left off. Luckily, it seemed that his message got to his classmates, and everyone escaped through the broken window, landing in a bush down below. They were much more afraid of a bomb than a fall.

"Zeik, c'mon. We've gotta-" J turned around to see Zeik running out of the classroom and into the hall.

"Annabelle is still in the building!" Zeik called over his shoulder. "her class is just downstairs. I'll make it in time!"

J hesitated. He had no clue what time the bomb would go off, but he wasn't known for being optimistic. If he went after Zeik, knowing how stubborn Zeik was, he'd just be extending the risk. J gritted his teeth and turned towards the window, hoping that Zeik would get enough time to get away, too.

Too late. While his class had made it across the street already, J had only put his foot against the edge of the shattered window when the bomb went off. Bits of glass, concrete, and drywall rained down upon those who had escaped, and the loud explosion left their ears ringing. J had been flung out of the building and into the road, his left leg and forearm torn from his body from the blast. Shards of glass and metal shredded his clothes, and many pieces buried themselves deep in J's body the moment they made contact. J was not even given the courtesy of a last breath. With the last remaining bit of his consciousness, he wondered if waking up late, in a way, had been an omen.


	3. Chapter 3

How long have I been walking?

Am I safe? Are they still after me?

I can't keep going anymore.

Is this where it ends?

No, I just… need a small break. Yeah, that's what it is.

I just need to lie down for a bit.

Who knows? maybe all of this is a dream.

Surely, everything would go back to normal once I wake up.

\---

Through the thick foliage, a single beam of sunlight managed to shoot right into my eyes the moment I woke up. I rolled out of the way, crushing the fallen leaves that carpeted the forest floor.

Wait, leaves? forest?

I shot up to my feet. My situation had absolutely zero correlation with the one before it. I remembered the sound of the bomb going off clear as day, and everything went dark after that. If I had survived, I would have woken up in a hospital.

Was I in heaven? No, it didn't seem likely. Though the crunching of leaves under my feet was heavenly, It felt as if I hadn't eaten in weeks, and bug bites covered my arms. It was as if I had passed out exploring after running out of food. I checked my pockets to find that I didn't actually have pockets, and I was wearing a shirt and a skirt, both of which were pretty much shredded. My feet were bare, and I had cuts all over my body, either from sharp branches or knives. Since I didn't remember how any of these things came to be, I was extremely confused.

I followed the sound of flowing water, which led me to a clearing by the river. I looked at my own reflection in the water.

"Who's this?" I thought aloud. It took me a few moments to realize that I was actually looking at my own reflection.

In place of my short blond hair was green hair so pale that it could have been mistaken as a light grey, and long enough for it to hang down into the water, even though I was an arm's length away from the surface. My ears pointed up a slight bit, and my face had no distinct "male" features. I splashed the water a couple of times, hoping that my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but the reflection remained the same. The only similarity between this and my previous appearance was my eye color, which stayed the vibrant royal blue that it was previously.

In the water's reflection, just a bit above the top of my head, I noticed two orbs of light. After looking up at the sky and blinding myself for a second, I realized that both of them were suns. They were much smaller than the one I was used to, which resulted in them having the same effect as just one, large sun. This confirmed that I was probably not standing on Earth.

Apart from my face, there still weren't many similarities in this before-and-after comparison. From what I could tell, I was a bit shorter, and my body was a bit thinner and more feminine. It was almost as if I'd been thrown into a completely different body with my memories intact, overriding the previous owner of it. Though I felt like complaining that said previous owner just happened to be some girl.

My stomach growled, interrupting my train of thought. Whoever this body belonged to before, she sure didn't know how to feed herself.

After looking around, I wasn't sure if I did, either. While it seemed full of life, the forest contained almost no edible things that were visible to the eye.

I panicked slightly. I really didn't feel like dying again, especially so soon after the first time, and to starvation, of all things.

The crunching of leaves brought me back to reality. On the other side of the river, a deer walked up to the stream and dipped its mouth into the water, completely disregarding me.

I looked around for a weapon. The fact that it was just minding its own business didn't faze me. If I couldn't kill that deer, then I'd probably be the one that would end up dead.

Finally, I settled on a small but weighty rock, not really thinking logically, more like in desperation. With all my strength, I performed a serve rivaling that of an NBA pitcher. The rock shot straight into the deer's head, and, unexpectedly, passed through it as if it was a thin sheet of paper. The rock buried itself in the ground behind the animal.

As the body of the deer fell sideways, I stared at the hole in its head in shock. No matter how I looked at it, all I did was throw a rock, which would have stung the animal a bit at most, but instead I was staring at a dead deer, undoubtedly killed by none other than the rock that had just left my hand. With a strangely composed mind, I deduced that such a display of strength was definitely not possible for a human, especially a girl so skinny and malnourished. I was in another world, so I wouldn't have been surprised if I turned out to be another race, too. Preferably something that was common and didn't stand out, though I realized that that was being picky.

I checked the top of my head, no horns or ears were present. The inside of my mouth did not contain fangs, and there wasn't a tail attached to my backside either. The only things about me that I could have singled out as "inhuman traits" were my slightly pointed ears and my strange hair color, both of which were pretty small details. But since I had just sent a rock straight through the head of a wild animal, I had a cause for believing that I did not remain human other than "oh, I've seen this in a book before."

A strange, yellow-colored light rose out of the deer's dead body, dragging my attention away from my internal debate on what fantastical race I could have belonged to. The light floated towards me and disappeared upon hitting my chest. My hunger and wounds instantly disappeared, and even the hollowed cheeks started fading away. It was as if I had eaten the animal itself, even though it was clearly still lying there, leaking blood and brain matter into the river and giving me the urge to throw up.

I sat down with my head between my legs to process all of this. Not only did I just hole-punch the skull of a deer, something like its soul came out and got absorbed by me, which completely replenished my body. I hadn't read about any races in fantasy that could do that besides evil ones, and I sure as hell didn't want that role.

A strange feeling on my back yanked me out of my thoughts once again, and I looked at my reflection in the river again. A pair of thin, diamond-shaped wings, glowing the same color as my hair, had appeared behind me, seemingly rooted to the small of my back. Further inspection showed that they weren't actually physically attached to my body, but floated an inch or so away from me, though it felt as if they were new limbs connected directly to my nervous system.

"What the hell…" I moved the wings back and forth, just to see if I could control them. "Can I fly with these?"

I got my answer pretty quickly. Moving the wings lifted me a foot off the ground, and I could freely control my direction and speed, even though I'd never done so before. Was this the muscle memory of the body I was in?

I searched my memory desperately, hoping to find a bit of context, or even just information that wasn't there previously. There was nothing that stood out to me. No family, friends, cities, or even a general idea of where the hell I was. I gave up after a minute or two, and just decided to fly up and see if there was any intelligent life that I could spot.

Even though my memory had no instructions on how to control my wings or my superhuman strength, it seemed that my body's muscle memory allowed me to do just that. Since muscle memory does also come from the brain, I assumed that not all of the memories of the body was lost, only the conscious ones.

My larger concern was my appearance. My new body was that of a teenage girl, probably around 14 or 15 years old, a couple years younger than my previous one. It was perfectly balanced, and had a nice figure and a cute face that was totally my type, but…

I patted my chest.

There wasn't nearly enough mass there, was there?

I laughed to myself. I was in a confusing and strange situation, but I found comfort in the fact that my mind still worked the same as always. At least that confirmed that I was still the same person.

There was nothing but forest in sight, even after a few hundred meters of flying straight up. Discouraging as this was, I found out that my eyesight had significantly improved from before, too. I was still able to see the details on the trees below me for at least a two-mile radius, though that might have contributed to the discouragement.

After choosing a direction by spitting into the wind and flying that way for about an hour, I noticed a small plume of smoke rising up from the endless sea of trees in the distance, barely at the edge of my vision. A smile found its way onto my face. I had almost given up there, but it looked like flying up so high wasn't a waste of time at all. I had a feeling that, no matter what awaited me there, my life in this parallel world was not going to be as easy as that of the peaceful, side-character role that I had wished to take on in a new world.


	4. Zeik

Zeik stared at the unfamiliar ceiling in shock. It was decorated with a fancy mosaic depicting a story of demons and gods, locked in battle. At the center of it all, directly above the bed on which Zeik laid, was a glowing figure holding a cross-shaped sword, the hero.

The entire story seemed blatantly clear to Zeik's mind, despite him having never seen or heard it before. He sat up and turned to look at a mirror built into the wall. Sitting on the large, fancy bed and in a colorful nightrobe was a 15 year old boy with short, sky-blue hair and large blue eyes that seemed to contain the sky itself. His build was similar to what Zeik was used to, thin but balanced, and he was probably an inch or two shorter. Zeik lifted his hand, and the boy in the mirror did the same. Zeik raised an eyebrow, and the boy raised his. After a minute or two of this, Zeik realized that he was looking at his own reflection.

"What the hell..." Zeik's hands flew to his mouth, as an unfamiliar language had come out of it. He had spoken without thinking, but it seemed that he had done so in a language that he'd never heard before, yet still somehow understood it perfectly.

"What happened?" Zeik thought aloud, in English this time. "J was telling me to go back, and..."

A sudden pain, like being hit in the back of the head with a mallet, abruptly cut off the memory. Zeik cried out in surprise.

Zeik realized what this probably meant. "Oh, I died, didn't I?"

But if he had died, then where was he, and why did he look different?

Zeik chose not to think up any conclusions just yet. He wasn't really the type to read into anything. Instead, he climbed out of bed and searched his memories to see if any clues could be found there. To his surprise, he found not only the memories of himself, the ones of going to school with J and everyone, but also memories of being homeschooled by a private tutor, being isolated from the other kids, and sneaking out of the house at night to commit various actions that were undoubtedly against the law. Those were not the memories of the Zeik that he himself was familiar with, but of the original owner of the body he now inhabited. Zeik searched for a name, and one came to him: Prince Vincent II. Prince was not his title, but his first name. Zeik chuckled at the strange combination.

"Wait, the Second?" Zeik thought. "TWO people were dumb enough to name their kid like that?"

Zeik checked for more clues of what kind of a person this Prince was. He dug up memories of calling his maids abusive names, doing perverse things to them, and of playing extremely uncool pranks on them. Zeik shook these memories out of his mind and shuttered. "Damn, this Prince guy was a real shithead."

"No wonder he was isolated." Zeik laughed.

The fact that Zeik had these thoughts showed that his consciousness had completely replaced that of Prince's, but the memories of the latter still remained. Since he had no friends to play with, Prince had gotten used to amusing himself by messing with his maids, some of which actually enjoyed the young noble taking advantage of them. Zeik was so disgusted, he felt like washing his mind out with a combination of bleach and ammonia, a mixture that would make a deadly gas.

"Master Prince?" A maid burst through the door to Zeik's room. "We heard a shout. Is everything alright?"

Zeik stumbled in surprise. Of course, there were no locks on these doors. That would explain how Prince got into the maids' rooms so late at night, and vice versa.

The maid took a look at Zeik, realized that she had entered without knocking, and fell to her knees with her forehead to the floor. "I-I apologize for my rudeness!"

Zeik steadied himself and walked over to the maid, who was quaking out of fear. "No, it's fine. I'm happy that you'd felt such concern for me."

The maid looked up with her hazel eyes wide in surprise. She was fully expecting Zeik to assault her, right there and then.

Zeik realized that he had switched languages without even thinking about it, and was able to speak quite fluently. The maid had noticed that his tone was gentler and less commanding than that of Prince's, and she felt uneasy. She wondered if this was a new trick by the young noble to get her guard down.

"I'd like you to take me to Father." Zeik said. "Something weird just happened, and I feel it necessary to tell him about it."

Of course, Zeik considered the possibility of telling anyone about his situation being extremely risky and possibly even dangerous, but he still felt a strong connection to his father through the memories of Prince, though not a good connection, per say, and felt compelled to at least tell his family.

The maid stood up, dusted herself off, and led Zeik through the maze-like complex that was the inside of the Vincent Mansion. Prince's father, Duke Vincent, Duke being both his title and first name, sat having breakfast with his wife, Chelsea. As soon as Zeik was in the room, the maid excused herself and closed the doors behind her.

"You're up awfully early today, Prince." Duke said, not even sparing Zeik a sideways glance.

"About that." Zeik felt awkward talking to a man of such high stature so casually, but since he was hopeless with honorifics, he got straight to the point. "Do you have some time to spare? I'm in a bit of a situation."

The Duke was a busy man, but even he sensed that this was something important. He motioned for Zeik to take a seat.

"How do I say this..." Zeik thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not Prince, let's start with that."

Duke put his fork down and reached into his coat pocket, where he kept a knife for emergencies.

Zeik put his hands up and scooted away from the man. "Wait! Hear me out here."

Duke's hand did not leave the inside of his coat, but that was fine. Zeik explained awkwardly that he was, indeed, not Prince. But he had inherited Prince's body and memories, and just had to talk to someone about it.

"You said your name was Zeik?" Chelsea asked. "If you've got a name, you have a past too, no?"

Zeik cringed at the memory of his final moments resurfacing. "Y-yeah. I don't think this is the same world that I came from, though."

"I've never heard of such a thing before." Duke looked at Zeik skeptically. "You're not trying to play a prank on me, are you?"

"I swear I'm not." Zeik said. "I'm afraid that the Prince you know might be gone forever, and I apologize, I feel like I've caused you a huge loss."

Zeik hoped that the couple did not notice his irregular breathing, as the stress was tiring him out. Worst case scenario, he was probably going to get killed again.

To his surprise, however, Duke's expression softened and he laughed. A hearty laugh that reminded Zeik of all the times he's seen Santa Claus deliver presents to the good children on TV. "Don't apologize. If anything, we're glad that Prince won't grow up to be an oppressive individual."

Zeik stared at the man with wide eyes. How could he be glad that his only son was gone? Chelsea seemed to read Zeik's expression, and laughed a little, too.

"Please forgive us, Zeik." She said. "It's just that we're glad someone like you took over our son's life, instead of him growing up to be hated by all those around him."

Zeik blinked. "Someone... Like me?"

Duke's originally serious and intimidating aura had broken down, and he gave off more of a dad vibe. "I'm sure you know why we tried to isolate our son from the rest of the children, if you have his memories."

Zeik did know. Prince had been an abusive, obnoxious, and almost evil individual, taking pranks way too far and feeling no remorse for anything that he had done. Even Zeik could see what would have happened if Prince became the next Duke, given that his actions weren't exactly on a path of changing for the better. This feeling of understanding conflicted with his sense of family, as it felt like Duke and Chelsea were happy that their son was gone, and to Zeik, that was inherently more wrong than anything else.

"But, he was your-"

Chelsea stopped Zeik. "Was? Our son is standing right here, isn't he?"

It took a moment for that to sink in. Finally, Zeik understood what she meant. Since he had Prince's memories, looks, and blood, to them, Zeik was still the same Prince that the two knew. This didn't feel right to him, as it felt like the two were using him as a replacement, or rather, an upgrade, but he had no choice to accept it.

"hm." Zeik nodded.

"So, what are you planning to do now?" Duke asked.

'huh?"

"Surely, you want to live differently from how he did, right?"

Zeik thought about it for a moment. He didn't want to live the same, isolated life that Prince had, for sure. However, he had no clue what he actually wanted to do in place of that. There were many options. He could go to school, get a part-time job, or prepare to take on the title of Duke after his father.

"let me think on that for a bit, uhh..." Zeik didn't know how to address the two in front of him.

"Father is fine, Zeik." Duke gave a bright smile.

"Right. I'll come up with something by tomorrow, father, mother." Zeik said awkwardly, and turned to leave. The maid that had brought him to the room stood outside the door, her face bright red.

Zeik closed the door behind him and turned to her. "You listened in?"

"I- I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Zeik smiled. "It takes the trouble of explaining off me."

Zeik felt bad for the girl. Out of his memories, she was the one the Prince had abused the most. The youngest of the maids, just a year or two older than Prince himself, who found herself constantly targeted by the young noble's lust and anger. Prince hadn't even bothered to remember her name, and just referred to her as "Hey, you!"

"That reminds me." Zeik said. "Can you tell me your name?"

"My... Name?" The maid looked up in surprise. "But I'm just a maid, I can't act as my master's equal!"

That confused Zeik. Was there something about their culture that he didn't understand?

"Then from now on, I pronounce you my equal." Zeik said. "And so, you can just call me 'Zeik.'"

The girl gave Zeik a conflicted look, and hesitated for at least ten seconds.

"-abel." The maid's voice had gone very quiet.

"I didn't catch that, what?"

"Annabel." She seemed to have used all of her mental strength to say it.

Zeik felt another sharp pain in the back of his head. Annabel, a name that hit way too close to home. He stumbled and steadied himself against the wall.

"Master Zeik?!"

"Drop the 'Master,' Annabel." Zeik said. "We're equals now, are we not?"

"Y-yes." Annabel struggled to speak through her surprise. "Then, Zeik?"

Zeik nodded, and smiled to himself. He wasn't going to waste this second chance at life.

Whatever he chooses to do now, he knew that it was going to result in something the he never would have accomplished in his past life.


	5. Chapter 5

oooooooooooh man being dead is not fun. don't be like me kids, dying isn't healthy. Anyway, enjoy. I'll be more active, i promise... prolly.

After returning to his room, Zeik dug through his memory to research as much of the world he was currently in as he could. While he was able to recall all the important races, kingdoms, and the general sense of technological advancement, since Prince had not been allowed outside since he was young, Zeik knew nothing but concepts and on-paper statistics about the world. He even made a trip to the mansion's library to pick out a few books on history, magic, and races, as Prince had hardly paid attention during his private tutoring sessions and only remembered the most basic of material.

"Seriously, what a troublesome guy." Zeik muttered, flipping through the rough, hand-bound pages of some historic records under the light of an oil lamp. It wasn't until he didn't have access to it that he realized how convenient the electricity he had been taking for granted really was.

Zeik submerged himself in the deep lore of this parallel world until a maid knocked on the door and pulled him out of it. He had expected a boring history textbook, like the ones issued at school written by various professors in monotone, boring language, but the records of magic, knights, and dragons made it seem almost like he was reading a fantasy novel, not the brief history of a world in which humans lived.

Placing a bookmark on the page where he left off, Zeik headed downstairs to the dinner table, one made to seat dozens of guests and gave the room an empty feeling whenever it was only the three people who lived there. Zeik didn't have any memories of parties, so he guessed that they happened when Prince wasn't around to mess things up, either when he was sleeping or during his classes.

Chelsea looked up as Zeik walked into the room. "Ah, Zeik. Are you finished with your thinking?"

"Rather than coming to an answer, I've dug myself a deeper hole." Zeik sighed. "It's hard when I can't go out and..."

Zeik stopped. Nobody stopped him from going outside, that rule was only for Prince.

"What the hell..." Zeik mumbled in English.

"Hm?"

"Ah, nothing." Zeik said. "I'm thinking maybe a trip around town tomorrow will help me out."

Duke flinched, and then loosened up a bit. It looked like Zeik wasn't the only one not adapting quickly enough. Hearing that his son wanted a trip outside probably gave the poor man a heart attack.

"That's a good idea, but we've nobody to accompany you." Duke said. "Nobody's seen your face before, but your hair is a proud trait of the Vincent family, and for a noble's son to be walking around alone..."

"That is an issue, isn't it?" Chelsea seemed to be just continuing the conversation out of obligation, without much interest in it. Zeik wondered if the relationship between the two was alright.

"I'm sure I can handle it." Zeik assured.

"We'll discuss this when tomorrow comes. Quickly, the food's getting cold." Duke waved the issue aside, eagerly eyeing the platter of roast (beef?) on the table.

\---

Annabel was standing by his door when Zeik awoke, giving him a scare that definitely was not good for his heart, no matter what age he was. Further inspection showed that the maid was standing with her eyes closed, seemingly attempting to sleep standing up.

"If you're sleepy, why not head back to your room?" Zeik sat up. "Nobody's gonna blame you."

"But I was chosen to accompany Master on his trip outside today." Annabel said. "I'd feel terrible if I just left."

Zeik let out a sigh. He was never going to get used to the whole business of being a noble. "Then you could have at least pulled up a blanket or something and taken a nap?"

Instead of responding, the maid turned bright red and suddenly became very interested in the frills of her uniform. Zeik was confused for a moment, then realized what Prince used to do to his maids, especially Annabel.

"So she still doesn't trust me completely..." Zeik thought.

Annabel became fidgety and restless, unable to come up with a proper answer.

"I'm sure you had your reasons." Zeik chose to act normally. "As long as you don't pass out halfway throughout the day, I guess."

Zeik walked across the room to change into actual, outside-worthy clothing rather than some wool pajamas. As he was halfway through pulling his shirt off, he realized that Annabel was standing right there, and quickly slipped it back on, this time being his turn to turn the shade of a ripe tomato.

"Can you... Wait outside?" Zeik said, embarrassed. "I'm not really used to having maids around, so..."

Rather than that, it was more like he was so used to having them around, he didn't even question doing things such as changing in front of them. Zeik shook the thought out of his head, disgusted that Prince's experiences were affecting him.

Annabel silently left the room, shutting the door behind her. Zeik breathed a sigh of relief.

It shouldn't have been surprising, since the body did belong to Prince just a day or so ago, but Zeik wished for all of that to disappear quicker. Who knows what kind of muscle memory he still retained, if his mindset was still being influenced? Sadly, he knew that it wasn't going to fade overnight, but since he found no harm in wishing, he still hoped that it would.

Being from the modern first-world country of America, Zeik found the roughly-stitched shirts and pants extremely uncomfortable no matter how soft of a material it was made from, and underwear was even more so. To think that this type of stuff was the rich clothing that nobles wore, Zeik shuddered at the thought of what "commoner" clothes would be like.

"Whoops." Zeik pinched his own arm. "I'm thinking like a noble."

After studying his attire way too carefully in the full-length mirror in his room, intending to make it plain-looking and not at all suggestive of nobility, Zeik settled with a long-sleeved, white shirt and a pair of pants that resembled khakis, but rougher and stiffer. As for shoes, all he had was premium leather dress-looking shoes, which had no padding on the inside, and made a loud tapping noise on the floor for every step that was taken. He walked a few circles around his room, wincing at the pain of each step he took until he finally got used to walking around normally.

"People have to do this every day?" He felt bad for both the people of this world, and the ones in the bast of his old world. If they had to deal with this every day, why didn't they just run around barefoot?

"Mas- Zeik, are you ready to go?" Annabel poked her head back in as Zeik finished debating on which shoes were the most comfortable. They were all the same, of course.

"Yeah... Hey, are there any shoes that don't try to kill you around here?"

Annabelle tilted her head to one side. She didn't understand what he meant.

"Ah... never mind." Zeik shook his head. Of course she wouldn't understand. "Let's get going."

Annabel led Zeik out of the maze-like first floor of the mansion, as Prince was not even allowed near the outside after five years old, and his memory of that part of the house had been completely lost.

Unsurprisingly, the outside of the mansion was a well-paved cobblestone path that connected the mansion to the city. From what he could gather from his memories and studies, Zeik knew that the mansion was located near the capital of the kingdom, Azira, which was the largest feudal kingdom in the Empire of Humanity, which was not given a name for the fact that the debate over a name itself would start a war with the other kingdoms. Despite being listed as just a "Duke" on paper, Duke reigned over Azria and was a close friend to the Emperor. In fact, the entire Vincent family had been given permission to address him casually, just as "Azt," his first name. Of course, even Prince was given this privilege, even though he only met the Emperor once before. And even then, that was only something in his memory because it was the thing Chelsea had constantly reminded Prince in hopes of making him into a better kid.

Even with his shoes pinching at his soles with each step, Zeik found the walk to the city quite pleasant, as the chirping of the birds and the wind blowing through the trees formed an almost melodic rhythm. The light of the twin suns came from almost directly above, and provided a comfortable warmth to the fresh, clean air.

Zeik hesitated for a moment, and looked straight up, squinting at the two balls of glowing gas up in the sky until he had to squeeze his eyes shut and try to get rid of the two glowing outlines that were burnt into his retinas. There were two suns, alright.

"Zeik, you shouldn't stare at the suns like that." Annabel rushed over. "You can go blind, you know?"

"Mm, yeah." Zeik rubbed his eyes. "No kidding."

Annabel looked concerned. "Should we head back?"

"No, I'm fine." Zeik assured. "Let's keep going. There's a city to explore."

Annabel giggled as Zeik marched forward like a child mimicking the soldiers parading down the main street. To think that the abusive and mean-spirited Prince was replaced by such an innocent, kind person, Annabel found herself truly thankful to the gods, for the first time in her life.


	6. Chapter 6

there's gonna be a lot of perspective changes. anything told in first person is from the perspective of "J"  
enjoy

Bored.

I was very, very bored.

After flying to the little beacon of smoke, I had found myself a dead campfire, probably less than a day old, as parts of it was still burning. I threw a stick into the head of an innocent wild boar out of frustration and, unsurprisingly, it died instantly. Poor thing was in the wrong place at the wrong time, though absorbing whatever that floating light was that came out of it added more details to my wings, which were just simple quadrilaterals up until then. They took on a more 3d shape, and what seemed like another pair of miniature ones appeared under them. Now they looked more like wings, less like thin, long, kite-shaped, glowing bits of living bad photo editing. My body also felt a bit lighter as a result. I made a note to be more careful and avoid getting in the habit of killing things just for that purpose.

If the campfire was still burning, though, surely the people who had made it were still around somewhere. With luck, I could probably get instructions to the nearest town.

Of course, I should have known better. My luck had been trash from the moment I was born, and it sure as hell was not going to change for the better after just one death. I flew in circles for around an hour before giving up on finding these people and taking a seat on the tallest tree I could find, one of the few that poked out above the endless sea of leaves. I made a mental checklist of things to get done, starting with finding intelligent life, if any existed.

The clothes I had on were scratchy and rough, along with being torn in many places, and it just wasn't very pleasant to have on. Though something about taking it all off just clashed with my common sense, and I chose to cope with it until I could get my hands on something better.

Only one of the suns were visible as I looked towards the horizon, and it was already dipping into the side of a mountain far, far away. Well, at least it was something other than a tree. I squinted to try and see if there was anything near the mountain that could lead me anywhere, but came up empty, naturally.

"What a great fucking start." I sighed into the blue sky, now turning a vibrant orange. "I'm put into some girl's body without knowing where I am, or even why. And I'm stuck flying around a damn forest that has no end. If this is Hell, then I want to switch plans to eternally burning, please."

Great, now I was ranting to myself. Any longer in all this confusion and I'd actually go insane.

"Now, now. Is it really that bad?" A comforting but hollow sounding female voice seemingly came from directly next to my right ear. She spoke in a strange language, but somehow, I understood it.

"And I'm either hearing a spirit or going insane now." I didn't even bother turning my head. "Confirm one or the other, I beg of you."

"The first one isn't that far off." Despite the language barrier, it almost felt like the voice could understand English, too. I pondered this for a quick moment and then realized that I was, in fact, subconsciously speaking in the same language as her.

"One more bit of damage to my already-confused brain." I mumbled.

"Would you like some help?"

"Is there a catch?" Out of habit, I took on my father's businessman attitude. Striking a deal before agreeing to anything came naturally to me, even though it was a skill I fruitlessly tried to kill over the course of the past few years.

"A catch? No." Somehow, I could see the voice's source shaking her head, as if she was right in front of my eyes. "I haven't seen an Aeus in so long that you're practically doing me a favor just by existing."

"An Aeus?" I felt a slight rush of excitement. The word sounded like "Deus," which is Latin for god. "Is that what I am?"

"The last of your kind, and you didn't even know what you were?"

"The last of my-" I stopped for a second, "Wait, no, no no no. This is setting me up for a role that I really don't want. I'm not gonna get some of that 'Chosen One' crap, am I?"

"Rest assured, I'm sure you're not being chosen to do anything."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"We're getting off track here." I said. "You said you'd help me, but in what way?"

"You want a better understanding of yourself, right?"

"And a map to the nearest city, if possible." I added.

"I can't do that much, but I'll point you in the direction of the nearest town. I'll have to warn you, it's a town of elves, not humans."

"Well, at least now I know that humans exist in this world." I said. "But the other thing, how're you gonna do that?"

"Sadly, I can't." I heard an apologetic undertone to her voice. "That's something you'll have to explore on your own."

"That's to be expected, I guess." I nodded. "You'll be helping me out plenty just by pointing me in the direction of a town."

Without another word, a weird wind gently turned my head left a bit, and a few leaves flew in that direction. I assumed that was the way I wanted to go.

"Thanks, then." I hopped off the tree branch, my wings materializing right before hitting the trees below and making sure to fly in the direction I was looking in. I could make my wings disappear and reappear, but it felt weird since my wings also transmitted the same signals for "feeling" as my other limbs. That's another unexplained thing that I had no clue on how it worked besides "it's magic."

Sure enough, after a minute of flying, I spotted a small town with simple buildings and paved roads down below. After descending until I was only a few feet away from touching a large tree that stood smack-dab in the middle of it all, I could see that the residents of the town had long, pointy ears and royal blue eyes that would put most cosmetic contact lens manufacturers out of business. I was so busy staring at the place in awe that it took a literal arrow flying past my ear to snap me out of it.

I spiraled out of the way of the projectile, and met the eyes of the archer standing in a watchtower outside the town's wooden fences. I put my hands up and slowly descended, hoping that he didn't fire another shot.

"I come in peace." I called as I touched the ground, keeping my wings out in case more arrows came my way.

The Elves standing at the entrance to the town glanced at each other in confusion, said something in a strange language, and one of them ran off. I stopped dead in my tracks, overcome with the urge to scream, cry, give up, maybe a bit of all three.

An actual language barrier this time. What a great way to start off my journey into another world.


	7. Chapter 7

To Zeik's eyes, the medieval look of Azira's capital seemed like fiction. Knights stood guard at the city's gates, and the walls surrounding the city stretched on for as far as the eye could see. Since the Empire of Humanity was really just a cluster of feudal states, the Emperor, the only one capable of uniting the entirety of humanity, did not live in any of the "kingdoms" and instead had his own city close to the center of everything. Zeik saw it as sort of the Washington D.C. of this new world.

The guards granted him access after a single look at the coloration of his hair, and a jolt of excitement ran through Zeik as he set foot in the city of Azirtia, the capital city, not to be confused with the name of the kingdom. A wide, smoothly-paved cobblestone road stretched all the way from the gate to a massive castle-like building in the center of the city, which was barely a silhouette at this range. Zeik could not remember any information about that building, and since there, ironically, isn't a King to the Kingdom of Azira, that couldn't have been an actual castle. Actually, it was odd that the place was called a kingdom instead of a dukedom. From that, a bunch of small streets and alleyways branched out into the rest of the city, leading to stores, homes, and brothels. Close to the city's gates was the Church, which worshipped not a god, but Creation itself, and the Guild, a place where one could sign up to join the Expansioneers, a group of humans tasked with expanding into Fallen Territories, places overrun by Demons, and eventually erase the existence of Demons altogether. The job paid well, for sure, but not many were willing to sign up due to the risk it put them at. From just a single peek in the door, Zeik noticed how quiet and lifeless the Guild's building was, which was completely different from what he imagined it'd be.

Annabel quickly pulled Zeik from the Guild, and tried to get his attention onto something else. Zeik found this odd. In all the fiction he'd read, being part of such a Guild was an honorable and heroic thing, and that was what a lot of stories were centered around. To him, it didn't make sense why such a position was so unpopular to the people of this world.

"Mas- Zeik, we should hurry. There's an absolutely delightful restaurant further down, and it'll fill up if we don't get there early."

"Ah... But I didn't bring any money."

Annabel pulled a pouch of glimmering, golden coins out of her purse and shook it, filling the air with the resonant sound of small metal-on-metal collisions. A few heads turned towards them, but quickly returned to their original position.

Zeik felt a rush of anxiety, and rushed to push Annabel's hands down, back to the purse in her other hand. Even though Prince had no sense of money, Zeik could infer that gold coins were of great value on his own, and waving them around was probably a terrible idea.

"I got it, so please keep those until we need them." Zeik pleaded.

Annabel looked at Zeik's flustered face with surprise, and slowly placed the pouch back in her purse, out of sight.

"We should get there in time for lunch, if the queue isn't too long." Annabel said.

Zeik found himself instinctively pat his pocket for a phone to check the time, but realized that such advanced technology would not exist in this world. He decided to trust Annabel's sense of time. The two turned onto a side street, and the noise of the bustling main road quickly faded into the background.

A little too quickly, Zeik observed. He felt a chill at the base of his neck, and spun around. Nobody was there, of course.

"Zeik?" Annabel stopped.

"Just my imagination, I guess." Zeik said, scanning their surroundings. Finding nothing in the shadows between each building, he shook his head and kept walking.

It became apparent after a few more minutes of walking that Annabel had no clue where they were anymore. "We must have taken a wrong turn off Main." She concluded.

Zeik could not find the energy to feel annoyed or disappointed, as he had just realized the consequences of letting a body that stayed in the same few rooms for the past 10 years finally go outside. He sat with his back against a wall, hoping that the searing pain in his heels would go away. Prince had been taught to eat balanced, controlled meals that contributed to him not growing fat despite not even taking a step outside for so long, but Zeik did not expect that walking in hard leather shoes would hurt as much as it did. In fact, it felt as if someone had taken a mallet to the bottom of his foot, and just had ten seconds to do as much damage as humanly possible. To Zeik, if the people of this world had adapted to these shoes, then they could very well just walk barefoot across barely-hardened lava.

"Even if we made a reservation, it'd be hopeless." Zeik said. "What's the plan now?"

After a moment of silence far too long to be Annabel pondering her answer, Zeik finally looked up from the cobblestones on which he sat. Pinned against the wall a little ways away, with a hand firmly cupped over her lips, was Annabel. The other hand connected to the cloaked, masked assailant was around her throat, thumb jammed into her windpipe. It took Zeik a moment to comprehend what was going on, and once he did, he shot to his feet.

"Pin him down." A gruff voice ordered from the mask. "Don't let him see your faces."

two thin, small figures with what looked like scraps of cloth wrapped around their heads came out of the shadows behind the man, and tackled Zeik. In his previous, decently well-built body, there was no way he could have been knocked over, which was why he didn't even think to dodge. It occurred to Zeik far too late that Prince, while still maintaining a thin, healthy body, did not exercise at all.

"Fu-" Zeik attempted to curse as the two childlike figures pinned him to the cold, bumpy cobblestones, shoving a crusty, bloodstained cloth against his nose and mouth. Not being able to move his arms or legs, Zeik desperately thrashed his head around to move the cloth, but the hand pressing it to his face wasn't letting up.

"Knock him out, kill him, you two choose." The man's gruff voice came again. "They won't find us anyway. Take anything of value you can find."

Zeik could somehow see the man's smile. A wide, greedy grin was what Zeik imagined was behind that design-less black mask. Even when he couldn't physically see the man's face, and was facing a completely different direction from him, Zeik felt a shiver run down the length of his body.

Whether it was Zeik himself, or the selfish instincts of Prince that jumped to action, Zeik resorted to flopping in an ungraceful fish-like fashion, fully aware that the action could very well get Annabel killed, finally shaking the two pinning down his limbs, and jumped up. The cloth fell to the ground, and Zeik wasted no time yanking the cloth wrapped around the two's heads off, simultaneously jumping back to avoid being grabbed.

Zeik hesitated as the two newly-revealed faces stared back at him with just as much surprise as he imagined he had on his own. They were two children, both female and around eight years old, with dry, messy hair that frizzed out enough to make the natural light brown color seem wispy, and cheeks so hollow that they looked half-dead. Their hazel eyes stared emptily, both looking at Zeik and at the wall directly behind him. But those weren't the first details Zeik noticed.

Atop the two girls' heads, amidst poorly-kept hair, were ears like that of a cat. Now that he had time to look closely, the girls had tails hanging behind them, too. Though they were lifeless enough to be mistaken for heavily-used ropes.

He couldn't help but do a double-take. There was nothing about animal girls in the books Zeik had read, there were only stories about the deeds of humanity, wars against Demons, and a general image of the island that the Empire of Humanity was built upon, with the other island to the Northeast deemed as "Fallen Region," where Demons resided. There was no mention of other races. It would seem that whoever the human historians were in this world, they were extremely biased and did not care for anything besides humanity itself.

The man holding Annabel cursed. "Useless little shits... I knew that trader wasn't competent." And ran off, disappearing into the shadows between buildings. Annabel collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

The two children attempted to run, too. Zeik quickly grabbed them by their wrists and pulled them back, noticing the thick bands of metal around their necks, each one stamped with a number. the girls were 034 and 035 respectively. Zeik tied their wrists and ankles together with the cloth they had around their heads earlier, and rushed over to Annabel.

"Are you alright?" Zeik helped her to a sitting position. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention, and-"

"I'll be fine." Annabel managed to choke out. "Thank you, for worrying about me."

Zeik breathed a sigh of relief. There were some pretty bright blue-and-black bruises around her throat, but it didn't seem like Annabel was having too much trouble breathing. Zeik returned to the two he had tied together, who were now playing dead.

He knelt down and undid the knots, receiving large-eyes stares from the two. However, he did not let of their wrists.

"Those two..." Annabel's eyes locked onto the ears on the head of the girl with the collar stamped 035. "They're Halves, and slaves at that."

Of course, it occurred to Zeik that this different world might run off a system different from any he was used to, but hearing the word "slaves" still gave him a jolt. It was only something he had heard while learning about the American Civil War, and even then, that was so far from his place in history that it hardly felt like a real event.

"Halves? Slaves?" Zeik asked.

"I don't know much about them, but Halves are humans with beast-like attributes. They're lesser beings, basically. To see one in Azirtia..."

"Alright, you can stop right there." Zeik felt an oncoming headache. Lesser beings? Wasn't this the same story of racism and slavery that he had learned about in school, just with slightly different sides?

"So these two were forced to help that guy, huh?" Zeik looked at the two trembling girls before him. "They don't look like they feel like talking any time soon. What do you say we do?"

There was a clear look of disgust in Annabel's eyes, despite her nature as such a nice and innocent girl. "We shouldn't involve ourselves with them. Let's just let them go."

The girls stared at her with eyes even wider and more scared, then glanced at Zeik with the same eyes.

"They'll be taken back into slavery then, won't they?"

"That's highly likely, yes."

Zeik shook his head fiercely. "Then that's not happening. These two are coming with us."

"But Zeik-"

"That's final." Zeik said, and Annabel's mouth snapped shut. She was trained to follow her master's every word, so such a command instantly shut down whatever she was going to say.

"Come on, stand up." Zeik helped the two girls to their feet. "You don't have to trust me, or talk to me, but I'll let you choose. Whatever slaver you came from, or take your chances with me."

Unsurprisingly, the two girls clung to Zeik.

"There's your answer." Zeik nodded at Annabel. "We'll decide what to do with these two once we get home. Do you know a way back that doesn't involve Main?"

Annabel took them through a dark, winding path between buildings that led them to a side gate of the city, guarded by one guard, who let them through immediately after glancing at Zeik's head. After that, they took a forest path that led to the Vincent Mansion's back door, an entrance that Prince didn't even know of.

Annabel insisted on leaving the two outside, and Zeik agreed to it after a full minute of arguing. It didn't seem like the girls planned on running, since they knew that the chances of them starving in the wild or getting caught were almost certain. Zeik entered the house with a promise to bring them some food.

Annabel showed Zeik to the dining hall's side entrance, and Zeik dismissed her to attend to her own matters, since she was technically off the clock by then. He placed a hand on the doorknob, and froze.

"-ve some common sense!" Chelsea's voice could be heard through the heavy wooden doors. "There's no way that brat has changed at all! Other world, my ass! He's tricking us again, and you know it!"

"There is truth behind his words, and I have faith in that!" Duke retaliated. "Have you seen him? He's not the same Prince as always!"

"Then what do you think he's doing, out this late?" The sun had already set, due to the detours Zeik was forced to take back. "He's celebrating his victory over us! He's probably out there again, tearing the town apart as we speak!"

"Think about what you're saying!" Duke wasn't letting up. "have some faith in your own son! In our son!"

Zeik heard a sharp, cringe-inducing slap from the other side of the door, and the sound of someone standing up so fast that their chair toppled backwards.

"Our son? OUR?" Chelsea screamed. "That b- that THING stopped being my child the moment it began thinking! I can't believe that I gave birth to such a terrible being, and I can't believe you're still taking his side!"

"Honey, wai-"

"Don't 'Honey' me!" Chelsea's footsteps rang out loudly, followed by the slamming of the dining hall's main doors. Her footsteps echoed down the Mansion's many halls as she stormed up the stairs.

Zeik fell to his knees. Tears rolled down his face.

"I did this." He thought. "If I'd just kept isolating myself, or if I built up trust first..."

But did that really matter? Could he really have filled the gap in their hearts from all those years ago?

"They'll be better off without me here." Zeik concluded. "I'm just causing problems."

"They probably didn't even see me as 'Zeik' to begin with."

Without even confronting his father, who sat stupefied in the dining hall, the slap still stinging his face, Zeik stood up and ran back the way he came from, not going to his room to pack up clothes, not grabbing any food or tools. He burst out of the back doors, not even bothering to wipe his tears, and grabbed the two girls there waiting for him.

"I'm sorry." He apologized to nobody in particular. "But it's best if we leave right now."

The girls, sensing that something was wrong, didn't struggle against him, and just nodded.

"We'll have to go somewhere far from here." Zeik tried his hardest to not just break down and curl into a ball, crying until he couldn't anymore. He hadn't known the Vincents for long, but from all the time Prince had of his parents in his memory, they were like family to him, too. Even if Prince could have, Zeik couldn't bear hearing the two argue like that.

"Somewhere where I won't cause any more pain."

A/N: Ah, man. I was looking back upon this, and damn did I 180 shit fast. I am posting a bunch of these per day to make up for the few months' worth of time that I was dead for (don't worry, none of it is rushed. I wasn't doing nothing the entire time I was dead.) Well, no use regretting things now.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ah, J! Good morning." A shop-owner waved at me as I walked past. "Heading to the Elder's again?"

"Yeah."

"You sure have it rough." He said. "The geezer's probably all kinds of unreasonable."

"You bet." I laughed.

I was on my way to the Elf Village Elder's house, which he had built away from the liveliness of the village and more into the isolated calm of the natural forest. I had been studying under him for a little under three months, during which he had succeeded in jamming a whole language, layout of multiple maps, and knowledge about every single living organism that I would need to know about into my brain.

When I first came to the village, I did not speak a common language with the villagers, so the Elder took me in. As for why he could communicate with me, I only received the explanation of "The language is passed down to each generation of village Elder." I still had no clue what language it was, and why I knew it.

But from what I've heard, Elves, Humans, and Halfs mostly all speak the same language, with the exception of some local tongues and dialects. As for the reason why, everybody I asked gave me this uncomfortable look, so I didn't pry.

Long story short, in the process of getting one of my questions answered, a bunch of new ones popped up.

As for the village, they had warmed up to me quite a bit. When I first got to a conversational level in my language studies, I was met with nothing but unfamiliarity. Most people wouldn't even look my way, as I didn't look anything like an Elf with my green hair, blue eyes, and most importantly, short ears. it seemed that most elves had brown or black hair, and eyes of a similar shade. Their pupils were also of a peculiar diamond shape. Because of this, I felt quite thankful to the Elder for not just turning around and leaving me to look for another village in this massive forest, if there even was one.

I walked out of the village's gates, and onto a dirt path that was hardly distinguishable from the rest of the forest. After an annoying amount of twists and turns, I arrived at the Elder's home, which he nearly never left. He sat on his front porch, in a rocking chair, sipping on a cup of tea as he always was.

"Don't you ever get bored of sitting in one place?" I asked, for the first time in about one day. It had become something like a greeting, at least to me.

I expected him to answer me with the usual, "When you're as old as me, you'd understand." To which I would shoot him a puzzled look, as this man, who has supposedly lived for almost three full centuries, looked like he had only barely exited the "middle-aged" range. How that was considered "Elder," that's beyond me.

Though when I thought about it, the elf villagers all looked way younger than what they actually were. The shop owner that had called out to me, who looked like a teenager, was apparently turning 132 years old in the next month or so. If the elves considered that middle-aged, then I guess the Elder would be pretty old compared to that.

The Elder, however, responded to my question with, "I don't, but you certainly have, haven't you?"

I froze for a second, like a GPS recalculating routes due to an increase in traffic, and then remained silent long enough for the Elder to drain his cup.

"Surely, a youngster like you has places she'd like to go, no?" He continued after pouring another cup of tea for himself, and bringing one for me. I hadn't told anyone about my background, and nobody has asked. To these villagers, I was just a tomboyish girl named Aris. As for how I came up with that name, it just popped into my head.

"Is this an elaborate way of telling me that I'm not needed any longer?" I joked.

The Elder let out a jolly belly laugh. "Indeed it is."

I took a moment to think, and came up with an actual answer.

"I'm pretty interested in seeing the world, I'd say."

"What a broad and tame dream for someone as young as you." the Elder scratched at his short, spiky beard. "I assume you're interested in seeing some Humans, no?"

"Read me like a book." I confirmed.

I couldn't tell him that my actual reason for wanting to travel was to see if any of my schoolmates ended up here, too.

Did anybody survive it?

A searing pain ran through my right arm and leg, something that always happened when I thought about the last moments I had in that world. It was nothing more than a memory, but I felt it all the same. I winced and dropped to one knee.

The Elder raised an eyebrow at me.

"It's nothing." I stood back up and dusted my skirt off. My outside appearance being that of a girl, I was given nothing but dresses and blouses. Naturally, I took it upon myself to modify these articles of clothing to something a bit more comfortable and simpler, down to something closer to a plain, long-sleeved shirt and a skirt that hung just above my knees. I also made a pair of thin leggings out of white fabric. But the added comfort and maneuverability earned me more than a few strange looks. That aside, I sure raised my housework skill. The Elder even said I could start a business selling clothes if money gets tight, as a joke, of course.

Underwear, however, was a story I'd much rather not share.

Where was I? Oh, right.

"If it's Humans you're interested in, then I can't help you very much." The Elder leaned back in his chair. "Us Elves cannot fathom why anyone would take interest in a race inferior to us, me included."

I was surprised. I expected someone with so much life experience to be quite indifferent and bias-free, cases like the Elder really threw me for a loop.

"Inferior, hm?" I couldn't help but feel a bit of offense at the statement. "I've got to see them for myself, in that case."

"For such a young girl, you sure speak like you know your stuff."

"That's the second time you've said that this week, gramps."

The Elder laughed, then took another sip of tea.

"If that's what you want to do, then I have no right to object." He said.

I had to think for a second. I was certain that I would want to explore this world, for sure, but I had no understanding of its power system and, more importantly, where I stood on it. Going on the assumption that I would figure something out on the way or awaken a super powerful ability when it was most needed would have been what I called a "total Zeik move."

"Though if Zeik was here, what'd he choose?" I spoke in English, under my breath. The Elder leaned forward in an attempt to catch what I was saying.

Surprisingly, Zeik had become the basis for all the unfamiliar things I did in this new world. I usually did the opposite of what I thought he would have done. In this case, however, I decided that I would have needed to go with the riskier route and get some first-hand experience instead of staying in a comfortable little Elf village.

"Then I'll hop on the road before you change your mind." I grinned. "Got anything for me to do before that, though?"

"Who's to say I won't change my mind if you do any more for me?" The Elder chuckled. "I may be old, but us Elves live for much longer than this. Just pay us a visit once you've gotten your fill of traveling, will you?"

"If that's all, then I swear I will." I gave him a salute, then realized it was probably a strange gesture. I instead put my fist over my heart, and then touched that to the ground: a promise to return. To me, the gesture seemed really cheesy, but the Elder seemed to accept it. he leaned back in his chair, and took another sip of tea.

In the three months that I lived at this village, I had not built up any belongings or property, relying on the kind owner of the sole inn in the village for lodging. It filled me with guilt to just leave without telling them so, but I was sure that telling them would make it even harder to leave. I made up my mind to just apologize when I got back.

"I suppose you're heading off immediately?"

"Trying to get rid of me?"

"Ha. Maybe I am." The Elder said. "if you go straight in the direction you're facing now, you'll reach the sea. Either fly straight and hope to hit human lands, or fly around the coast, you decide. That's about what I can do for you."

"That's good enough." For the first time in a month, I spread my wings and lifted off the ground. As I flew up, the bird's-eye view of the village revealed just how small it was. Down below, the 10 year old daughter of the innkeeper waved at me, being the only one who was looking up.

I felt a smile slide onto my face. In the short time I had stayed there, I sure grew attached to the village and its residents. Enough so that they probably thought of me as a part of their little community. The memories and experiences of my first three months in this world were all made there, and that'll be what I remember it for.

Until I return to make new ones, that is.


	9. Chapter 9

Zeik awoke to the feeling, or rather, lack of feeling in his legs. He sat up and stared at the two Half girls curled up on his legs and feet, soundly asleep.

"You're joking." He sighed. He had no clue why the two would do this, and he wouldn't expect himself to ever get used to it. How could they find that to be comfortable in any sense?

Zeik had arrived in Triuliy, kind of like a "melting pot" city in the human kingdom of Gridia, two months ago. He had stopped questioning the naming methods of this world once they just stopped making any kind of sense whatsoever. The names didn't even sound cool anymore.

He had found a small inn in a part of town with little traffic that was willing to let him work there, offering breakfast and lodging as payment. The environment was pretty idea for Zeik, who really just wanted to stay low and not make a fuss. As for his appearance, even though Gridia was a whole separate kingdom, people were sure to know of the blue-haired Vincent family. As for how to counter this, Zeik had remembered vaguely how, in medieval times, people had used plants, fungi, and even animal remains to color hair. As these methods made him want to puke, he settled with making a hood part of his everyday appearance. He decided, however, to stick to the name of "Zeik," since he had a serious doubt that the Vincents, who didn't seem to believe his story anyway, would go to the trouble of searching into a whole separate kingdom. On the contrary, they were probably thrilled that their monster of a son, Prince, was finally gone.

Zeik poked at the two Half girls keeping him from moving. They had no intention of budging. Zeik had kept them with him so that they wouldn't get re-captured and sold as slaves again, so they were given jobs at the inn, too. He tried to slowly slide his legs out from under the two, but found this effort meaningless. Zeik fell back and focused his attention on the ceiling, not wanting to wake them up.

During quiet moments like these, Zeik found his thoughts drifting towards his life before he was placed into the life of this blue-haired noble boy. He tried again to remember further than running out of the classroom, and having J yell at him to get back. Much like the many times before, this resulted in a splitting headache, and his head being wiped clean of any thoughts currently going on.

If that's where it ends, Zeik thought, then that's probably where I died. I couldn't have saved Annabelle.

Did J manage to get away safely, I wonder?

Zeik turned his head and recoiled at the feeling of wet fabric on his cheek. He reached a hand up to his face, and wiped at his eyes. Unknowingly, streams of tears had started rolling out of his eyes at the thought of his old schoolmates. Oh, how he wanted to see them.

Zeik raised his hand into the air, seemingly reaching for the ceiling. "If only I could have ran my fingers through Annabelle's hair one more time..." His voice cracked, and this time he was aware of his tears. Zeik brought his sheets up to his face and let them soak up whatever tears, snot, or sound that resulted from his crying.

"Mnh... Master?" The silver-haired Half, whom Zeik had named Amy, opened her eyes at the sound.

Zeik once again swallowed the clumped-up emotions in his throat and wiped his eyes with a dry section of the sheets. "I told you to not call me that, Amy." He said in the most normal voice he could manage.

"Master, are you alright?" Amy ignored him, and pulled the sheets aside to get a look at Zeik's face.

"I'm perfectly fine."

"Your eyes are red." Amy's cat-like pupils stared straight into Zeik's eyes. "Are you sad, master?"

"N-no. What would I be sad about? ha..." Zeik turned his head to the side.

Amy cupped Zeik's face in her hands, and turned it towards her. "Your eyes are wet, master."

"J-just your imagination."

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine." Zeik insisted.

The worried look on Amy's face didn't go away, but she backed off. Zeik slid out of bed fully clothed, a habit from always waking up late and being late for school. The other Half girl, Ginger, named after her hair color, stirred but remained asleep.

Zeik looked out the window that the bed was nearest to. "Is it just me, or is the sun already way up?"

"I think it's about noon, if that's what you're asking." Amy confirmed.

"Man, I'd kill to get that stupid alarm clock back." Zeik muttered.

"Wha-"

"I'm heading down to see if I'm needed for anything. Don't wreck the place while I'm gone." Without letting Amy ask her questions, Zeik rushed down the stairs and to the tavern that took up the inn's first floor. Surprisingly, not even the daily visitors that sat around chatting over an affordable drink were in the place, and Clarence, the inn's middle-aged owner, sat behind the counter with his head lolling back, snoring so loudly that the neighbors were sure to have had complaints.

Zeik took a seat. There was no waking the guy once he started vocalizing his Z's.

It wasn't until the sound of the tavern's front door being violently pushed open woke him up did Zeik realize he had fallen asleep again. He jumped to his feet, combating a massive head rush as he did so, and faced the three extremely ripped men dressed in simple tunics and baggy pants standing in the doorway, the door halfway off its hinge. A brown-haired woman dressed in a dark robe followed after them.

"You guys are gonna have to pay for that." He said in the calmest way he could, despite completely panicking on the inside.

"No need." The woman spoke, holding up a badge as identification. "We're with the Imperial Right Hand."

Imperial Right Hand, the name of the Human Empire's main military force, answering directly to the Emperor himself. Zeik had heard enough stories about the group from Clarence's drunken ramblings to know that they weren't good news. And they were already giving off a bad impression even without that.

As Zeik tried to think of a way to respond, the woman looked at him and spoke again. "Him." She said to the three men. "I sense that he's useful."

"Wha-" Zeik tried to take a step back, but found himself unable to, locked in place by the woman's gaze.

"Check upstairs. This inn might be hiding more than just him from us."

Zeik gritted his teeth. Amy and Ginger were upstairs.

One of the men headed up the stairs, and returned momentarily carrying the two Half girls by their collars. The robed woman nodded, and he took them outside. Zeik heard the thump of bodies on wood, then the sound of hooves as the wagon began to move.

"Where..." Was all he managed to force out.

"Those slaves belong to us now." The woman stated. "And so do you."

A/N: This about does it for the introductory arc. If you read through my writing up till now, I applaud your bravery. Seriously, I almost compressed myself into a wormhole when I read these back during re-editing. I did have these marked as "P1" and "P2" and whatever, but that doesn't really seem fitting so I'll stick with being lazy and not having chapter titles. Again, nothing has been rushed, I'm pushing all of these through. There's a few more that will be updated in rapid succession, and then I'll go back to a reasonable update schedule and hopefully not die again. No promises made, though.


	10. Chapter 10

New Character Warning (lul)

"God damn it!" Arek ran full-speed down the paved cobblestone roads, people moving out of the way as he approached them as if this was a daily occurrence, which it kind of was. "Why can't the sun rise later?"

Arek Kuir, "a commoner with some stupid luck," he referred to himself as. He had enrolled in the Imperial Capital's "High" Academy, a place usually reserved to those of noble blood, out of complete luck after cheating off of one of said nobles on their Second Tier Exams and somehow not getting caught. Now, in his first year out of 4 in the Third Educational Tier, he has to survive courses designed specifically for those who stand so far above him, he couldn't even imagine seeing the soles of their feet.

And with this transition comes also the transition to waking up as early as those from noble families, which just so happened to be the hardest task to accomplish, especially when lacking a maid.

The "High" Academy was at the direct center of the Imperial Capital, right by the Emperor's castle and the nobles' mansions, meaning that someone coming from the "outer ring" of the city would have needed to wake up extra early just to run the whole way there.

Arek raced past shops, taverns, inns, and cafes. The regulars around each place had already moved out of the way to make a path for him.

"Thief! Someone catch that thief!" A voice in the crowd interrupted Arek's frantic making up of excuses for his tardiness in his head. A man broke out of the line of regulars who had made way for Arek's daily sprint to the High Academy, and Arek barreled straight into him. An expensive-looking leather purse decorated with a gold trim and gemstones flew from the man's hands and dropped to the floor with a small "clink."

"Huh?!" Arek was rolled to the side, and the man took off running again, disappearing into the crowd of people.

The crowd closed in around Arek, offering him so many hands at once that he was in danger of getting pushed back over. He managed to grab onto someone's hand, and once the crowd of oddly caring people made sure he was alright, he was allowed to stand back up and collect himself and any belongings that fell.

"Ahem." Arek felt someone pull on his hand, and he realized that he was still holding onto the person who helped him up.

"Ah, thank you." Arek let go and looked up. Before him stood a light blue-haired girl wearing the High Academy's uniform, a white jacket, a white skirt with gold trim, and boots over knee-high socks. Pinned on her arm was the crest of nobles familiar to all residents of the city.

Arek jumped back and dropped to his knees. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to speak so... so..."

He was at a loss for words. Before him stood the daughter of one of the four noble families of the Empire, and he had spoken to her as if she was another commoner like him, and even touched her hand.

But that was strange. He hadn't seen anybody with blue hair at the school before...

"V- Vincent?!" Arek accidentally blurted the name of the most noble of noble families, the one said to have been allowed to address the Emperor casually, and even oppose his rulings, without any repercussions. He tried to scoot back even further, his forehead pressed against the rough cobblestone of the street.

The girl grabbed Arek by the arm and pulled him back to his feet. Arek wanted to run away, but was afraid that breaking out of a noble's grasp could be taken badly.

"Ah, you should take better care of yourself. Here-" She took a handkerchief out of her jacket and pressed it against Arek's bleeding forehead.

"Wh- wh-" Arek was flushed bright red, and the sound of his heart beating so fast that individual beats could no longer be distinguished filled his ears. "Y- you don't have to do that, uh... uh..!"

"Juni. Juni Jule Aures." The girl introduced herself, excluding the curtsy that usually came with noble introductions. "Vincent is the name of my Uncle's family."

"Oh, I see..." Arek breathed a sigh of relief before catching himself. "Wait! That's not any be- please excuse my rudeness!"

Juni giggled. "Don't worry about formalities. You saved my purse, didn't you?"

Arek's eyes drifted to the purse lying on its side on the road, and a feeling of dread came over him. He had thought that it belonged to some rich old lady because of its design, but he'd let a noble's daughter's purse sit on the road, which was covered with dirt, dust, and who knows what else?

"Ah!" Arek rushed over and picked the purse up, wiping the dirt off of it with his sleeve while maintaining minimum contact with it, and handed it to Juni. "I'm sorry for touching your property, please forgi-"

Juni flicked Arek on his scratched-up forehead, causing him to wince.

"I already said to stop that. Geez..." Juni took her purse and didn't bother to inspect it for any excess dirt, dust, or commoner germs. "I don't like it when people act like that because of my family."

"Al-alright."

"Let's try this again." Juni took a deep breath. "You can call me Juni. I don't need any formalities from my classmate."

Arek blinked a couple of times.

Juni tapped Arek's jacket, which held the High Academy's mark, a silver-haired girl with three pairs of multicolored wings in an upside-down prism. Unlike her, he had no crest on his shoulder.

"But I've never seen-"

"I was called at the beginning of the year to take care of something in Azira." Juni leaned forward and whispered into Arek's ear. "Apparently, my cousin had disappeared."

"Oh... Did you find him?"

"Nope!" Juni said cheerfully. "I was sent back so that I wouldn't get too behind in my studies. Of course, I'd been sent many letters about the strange commoner who had gotten into the High Academy."

The word "commoner" did not have the same punch as it did when Juni said it than any time a noble had referred to Arek as one before, and that happened so often that he thought he'd at least be used to it. There was none of that disgust in her eyes, no sharp, condescending undertone to her words, it was as if she was just another commoner, talking to a friend.

Arek suddenly realized an important detail of this conversation.

"Ah! We're going to be late!"

Juni grabbed his arm as he turned to run. "That's unavoidable, isn't it? If we're going to be late anyway, let's just walk there together. We'll at least have eachother to talk to."

"But the time..."

"What, don't want to ruin your perfect attendance?" Juni joked. "My friends write very detailed letters, you know?"

"Ah... Right..."

With a smug look on her face, Juni took Arek by the arm and started cheerfully skipping down the road, which was still filled with people. Arek directed his eyes towards the ground as she dragged him along, embarrassed to meet the strange looks and laughs directed at him.

Once they got past all the shops and people, and were on the now nearly empty road, Juni let go and slowed down, giving Arek time to shake off his embarrassment. She took one look at his flushed face and burst out laughing, something a normal noble definitely would not be doing.

"Come on, Arek! Don't act so weirdly, it'll attract attention!" She continued skipping away from Arek.

"You're the weird one here. What the hell kind of noble acts like that?" Arek muttered, and began walking normally.

He took another look at her, light blue hair dancing as she skipped along as if it had a life of its own, and felt the blood rush to his face once again. He instinctively looked towards the ground.

"Well, it's a welcome change, I guess."

\---

"How's the boy doing, Eld?" A woman with brown hair, clad in a black cloak that seemed to melt into the shadows she just stepped out of, asked.

"It doesn't seem like he'll remember anything." Eld, a bald, almost-too-well-built middle-aged man with a scar down the back of his head, replied in a gruff voice. "You sure he'll be all we need?"

"I could see it clearly. That kid's got a soul different from anything we've ever seen before."

"I..."

"Do you doubt me?"

"No, I'll have faith in your words. I can't prove you wrong, anyway."

"Good." The corners of the woman's mouth curved upwards. "Before he wakes up, do something about that hair of his."

"What's there to do?" Eld was confused. Did she want him to play hairdresser?

"Just make it some color other than blue." The woman turned back around and walked back into the shadows in the corner of the room. "I'll have faith in your abilities to do so."


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey, did you hear? That commoner came to school with the Vincent girl."

"Vincent? Wasn't she a branch-off?"

"It's the same thing! She's got blue hair!"

Arek sighed, head down on the table. Juni had chosen to sit next to him in the fifth and furthest row of the lecture hall, a row usually restricted to only Arek, because nobody else wanted to look at him. The nobles even went as far as squeezing themselves into the front three rows just to be as far away from him as possible. Naturally, this attracted glares and threatening gestures from the other students, all directed at Arek, of course.

Arek glanced at Juni's blue hair, and pulled at his own black strands. "Hair color, hah..."

It was said that at some point in history, a family with black hair and dark, red eyes ruled the land. However, all that Arek heard about them was just children's tales and fantasy. At some point he had thought that his appearance, which contains the black hair and red eyes, made him special or "chosen," but that was a long time ago. There were six noble families, not including the Emperor's line, and they could be told apart from hair and eye color alone. Not a single one of them had colors anywhere near as dark as black. Even among the commoners, Arek's hair was a running joke.

"Hey, hey." Juni poked at Arek. "We were late, right?"

Arek borderline growled. "Thanks to you, yeah."

"So why isn't the teacher here yet?"

Arek's eyes snapped to the front of the room, where the podium, devoid of any teacher, stood. The other students sat around, chatting happily.

"Nature's callings caught her at a bad time?" Arek said, and put his head on the desk. "Good for us, I guess."

He couldn't help but glance over at Juni again, denying that the action has anything to do with her irresistable looks at all over and over in his head as he did so. Her hair ran like a waterfall in the sense that it was loud, but still something one could stare at for hours on end. Her eyes had wandered off somewhere, giving her that faraway look that made Arek want to capture this moment somehow and hang it up...

Arek blinked himself out of his delusions, and buried his face back in his arms in the hopes of catching a couple more minutes of sleep.

The door to the classroom opened, and a pair of footsteps so light it couldn't possibly be their obese, snotty noble teacher echoed from the front of the room, as if the floor was hollow. The entire class jumped back into their seats as one of the Headmaster's assistants walked into the room, his head held high as if to look down on everyone else, and his uniform absolutely flawless, without even a single crease or even a wrinkle.

"Down to the courtyard, all of you." He spoke using as little effort and words as possible while still projecting his voice and sounding superior. "There's an announcement."

Arek could feel a mental groan from the all of the students in the room as they stood up and walked towards the door with the most expressionless face they could manage, some mimicking the assistant's posture, even. He, however, stayed sitting with his face pressed against the desk, and Juni sat right next to him, unmoving.

The echoey footsteps of the Headmaster's assistant came up the rows of desks, and stopped right in front of Arek and Juni. Arek braced himself for a strike to the head.

"You two, come with me." The assistant's superior tone hadn't changed, but when Arek looked up, he was looking them in the eye, the expression on his face from before completely gone and replaced with a somehow even more serious, no-nonsense one.

Juni's lips curled slightly upwards at the edges, just barely enough for Arek to notice.

"What are you waiting for? get over here." The assistant had already made it to the door before Arek even had the chance to stand up.

"Wha-"

"You heard him, let's move!" Juni grabbed his arm and dragged him into the aisle and down to the door.

Thoughts poured into Arek's mind. Was he going to be punished for not listening? Given detention? Suspended? Even expelled? the panic became more and more apparent on his face as he considered all these possibilities, and he didn't even notice that Juni had let go of his arm, and that they had stopped walking.

"Arek." Juni elbowed him in the ribs as hard as she could. "It's not your bedtime yet."

Arek jolted back to reality, resisting the urge to curl over from the jab to his ribs. He was standing in a room of other students, ones that he recognized from seeing at least once walking around school, but didn't know the names of. The lighting was dim, a sharp contrast from the perfectly-lit, pupil-burning rest of the school. 

"...ven, twelve, thirteen..." Someone behind Arek was counting. "There seems to have been a mistake. Why are there thirteen of you?"

Everyone in the room immediately started counting under their breaths. Juni sat quietly, a mysterious smile on her face.

"There are!" A red-haired boy across the room exclaimed. "Who here didn't get the memo?"

"The... Huh?" Arek took a step back as all eyes shot to him. "Am I intruding on something?"

The assistant from earlier stepped forward and grabbed Arek by the wrist. "I'm sorry. It appears that I made a mistake.

He moved to drag Arek away, but Juni suddenly caught Arek's other arm.

"Miss Aures?" The assistant exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What's the harm in it?" Juni said.

Arek wasn't even keeping track of the conversation anymore. This was definitely not a normal day, and he definitely did not want to be here.

"Well, everyone take their seats!" Juni stood up and took control. "Looks like you'll be gaining two members today."

"Who the hell said you could be in charge?" The red-haired boy stood up. "I'm the leader here!"

"Quiet down, Farnes." One of the girls on that side of the table spoke up. "You're causing a fuss."

The boy-Farnes-ignored her. "You can't just stroll in here with some commoner, and expect to join! Who even are you?"

"I'm Juni Aures." Juni responded literally at first, and paused for dramatic effect. "The 'Second Pillar' Candidate."

"Huh?" Was the response from the entire room. Many of them looked like they weren't sure whether to laugh or look surprised.

Arek, however, was the only one who was genuinely confused.

"A Candidate? Here?" Farnes laughed. "Don't try to play me like that! We answer directly to the Imperial Right Hand, a joke like that's going to get you nowhere!"

"You answer directly to them, huh?" Juni pulled something out of her purse. "Then it just so happens that you're my subordinates.

In Juni's hand was... the Badge of the Right Hand, stamped with the Emperor's seal. Something that someone at her age had nearly no chance of obtaining. "Because I answer directly to the Emperor."

Farnes opened his mouth, closed it, and fell backwards into his chair, deflated.

Arek's head felt fuzzy from all the shocks he had just experienced in a single day. He managed to gather his thoughts, stand up, and

"I- I need to use the restroom!" He screamed as he dashed out of the room and into the hallway. Whatever was going on there, he wanted no part of it. He ran through the unfamiliar halls, hoping to find a door, a window, anything to let him out of wherever he was.

After taking so many twists and turns that he felt dizzy, Arek found a set of double-doors that he immediately opened and dove through, expecting the sun to hit his face and everything that had just happened to just vanish from his mind...

Instead, he found himself in the same room, sitting in the same seat, with Juni's fingers wrapped around his wrist.

"Oops, didn't mean to scare you off." She smiled. It was the same bright, energetic smile from before, but to Arek's eyes, it was terrifying.

"I'm sorry, but you have to stay now that I've let you in on my secret." Juni whispered in his ear.

With a giggle, Juni turned back to the table. "And now we've got that all figured out..."

"Let's get this meeting underway, shall we?"

A/N: I do realize that shit's gonna go a weird way after this. I don't know what I was on when I wrote it, but I am going somewhere, and hopefully that somewhere doesn't suck. Till next time.


	12. Chapter 12

Zeik dropped the large duffel bag slung across his back against a wall, and took a seat atop it. He rubbed his sore shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief.

Around a week ago, he had woken up in a basement of some sorts with only the memory of waking up and walking to school in the morning. Assuming he was kidnapped, he immediately jumped the first person that came into view, fully expecting to get completely stomped, which he was.

The man he attacked had pulled up a table, chair, and a bowl of fruit for some reason, and explained that while he had no idea who Zeik was, it appeared that Zeik had lost his memories, and must have been confused. Not feeling like he was missing anything, but still confused, Zeik confirmed that this was the case.

It was only later on that Zeik came across a mirror, and noticed that his brown hair had turned completely black, and his eyes bright blue. Not only that, his face, height, and even his spoken languages had changed. He assumed that the man had been speaking English, since he was able to understand and communicate just fine, but it was only after did he realize that whatever they were saying, it sounded nothing like English.

The man didn't explain much, but told Zeik to head head down a certain road to reach the Imperial Capital, where he hopefully could "find the truth behind." That was an odd way of wording it, but Zeik dismissed it as probably some quirky part of the language or the accent the man was speaking in.

It was really only after he had been long on his way that Zeik realized to ask the man's name. It seemed disrespectful for him to accept such hospitality, and even the supplies given him, without a proper thank-you.

Zeik stood up and stretched. He was in one of the neighboring towns to the Capital, according to the directions he was given. The journey there would take another week, or even two. Zeik was told to restock on supplies in this town, Horiad. He made a mental map of where the town was relative to the trail, and reminded himself to go back and repay the man once he had cleared up his own confusion.

Even after a week, Zeik found it hard to believe that he wasn't part of a skit or some very well-constructed dream. Even after pulling on his hair, poking at his eyes, and generally just causing a lot of unnecessary pain for himself, he still couldn't see how this black-haired, blue-eyed 15 year old who was probably a few inches shorter than him could be him. He even bothered to spend a full minute staring into the two bright orbs of light in the sky, just to make sure there actually were two.

Zeik once again went over every possible clue in his head, coming up blank for some three-digit-number amount of times in this past week. Rather than having no context at all, Zeik felt an odd emptiness whenever he did this, as if something was missing, and something big.

"Aaaagh!" Zeik kicked at the ground in frustration, drawing a few glances from people passing by. "Why can't I have J figure this out for me, too?"

Zeik realized that he had been a bit too dependent on J, his best friend. Not did Zeik turn to him at the first sign of any unfamiliar problem, he was so well-versed in all fictional genres that he probably could have gotten a doctrine in useless knowledge.

Though, this was so far-fetched, Zeik doubted that even J would be able to come up with a good line of action that quickly.

Zeik shook off the relief that was crawling up his back. J wasn't here with him right now, and this was something for him to figure out on his own. He picked his bag back up and kept walking, trying to find an inn to settle for the night before he's forced to camp out every night again. He was genuinely surprised that he hadn't been eaten by animals in his sleep yet.

Zeik took a look at the nearest inn on the road he was on, and cringed at the sight of the prices. He certainly had enough money to stay there for a night, but it didn't feel right to be doing that when he doesn't even have an income source.

"Let's see... I've got around 15 silvers and 41 coppers, and the cost is..." He muttered to himself. "five silver per night. A loaf of bread costs around 5 copper." That means each copper is around half a buck, and each silver is 100 coppers..."

Zeik's failed to multiply for a second, and he stopped thinking about everything else to focus on it.

"250 bucks a night!? Just how nice is this place?"

From the outside, this inn certainly didn't look all that special. It looked like something straight out of the Renaissance Festival that came rolling around once every year. Surely this place had different standards from the modern world, but that was damn expensive for just an average inn.

Zeik sighed. It looked like another day of sleeping in a tree or on a rock somewhere.

Surely he wouldn't find some convenient noble offering him a place to stay anywhere near...

Right?

Zeik glanced around hopefully.

Right. There's no way it would be that easy.

As Zeik walked through the town, he closed off his nose and ears from the smells and sounds of the lively restaurants and taverns that lined the roads. He was provided enough dried meat for the 3-week journey, and he even bought some bread to go along with it. He didn't need things like a steak that costed a full silver to buy, as much as he wanted it.

Ah... but how tempting it was!

Zeik swallowed his saliva and set his sights back on the town's exit, which was just ahead. For him to be able to cross the entire town in a single day, either he's gotten reasonably faster or the towns are smaller than what he'd been used to.

On his way out, there was no "come back soon!" or "thanks for visiting!" sign that one would usually see as they're exiting a city, state, or country. Zeik thought that this felt kind of cold, but then again, maybe he was just used to everything being too warm and comfortable, sleeping at night especially.

Bit by bit, Zeik's journey Horiad had built up his frustration. Each free moment he had, thoughts were running through his head, each reminding him that this was not where he was supposed to be, and that he had absolutely no clue why he was here. As he exited Horiad, having gained nothing from the town, he drove his fist into the nearest tree, and fresh drops of blood rolled down between his fingers and dripped onto the ground.

Annabelle, his girlfriend. J, his best friend. Terrell, his little brother. Where were they now? What were they doing? Zeik slammed his fist into the tree's rough bark again, gritting his teeth against the pain that shot up his arm. He'd been away from them for at least a week. How much was he missing?

"Mom and dad are going to worry if I don't head home soon." Zeik told himself, punching the innocent tree again. "They're going to worry, but..."

Why? Why did he have to be here, of all places? Where was this, what caused this, and most importantly whose fault was it? Was he standing in a different world, or an alternate reality?

And most importantly...

"How the hell am I supposed to get back?"


	13. Chapter 13

Before him sat 12 students around an long, oval table. They were talking about something, but Arek couldn't make out what. Beside him stood Juni, who he remembered had dragged him into this. In her hand was...was...what exactly was she holding in her hand? Arek sat up so quickly, he rolled forward and off the bed, hitting his head on the hardwood floor.

As he rubbed his head, he felt the floor with his other hand. It felt a bit too smooth and polished for it to be his house, and he didn't get any splinters stuck in his forhead either. He was sure that this floor was not the same floor as the one in his two-generation-old house, which could not afford any fancy upgrades like this because most of their income is going into Arek's schooling. Unless his father had gotten a promotion lately, which was unlikely.

Arek patted the sheets on the bed. They were way too soft and luxurious to actually be his own.

He slid his hand along the silky sheets, soaking up the luxury bit by bit. The first thought that came to his mind was not about his whereabouts or why he was here, but regret that he was sleeping in such luxury without even knowing of it.

Arek's hand brushed against a bump in the sheets, and he poked at it, not thinking straight in his half-awoken state. What could this be? The possibilities that came into his head were either a pillow or a hug toy, two of the only things that he believed belonged on fancy beds. He tried to pull on the object, but it didn't budge. Arek was about to stick his arm under the sheets to figure out what it was when it stirred and moved away from him.

That sent enough of a jolt to Arek's head that he realized something else belonged on a fancy bed: The fancy person who owns that bed, whose leg he had just poked at. He jumped away from the bed and stuck against the far wall, hoping to not be noticed in the dim lighting.

Of all the questions rushing through his head, Arek was surprised that what he wanted to know most was not where this was or why he was here, but who the person currently sitting on the bed was. He inched to the right against the wall, trying to catch a glimpse of the person's face in the moonlight coming through the window.

He was answered sooner than expected, as the room suddenly became engulfed in a bright light, as if the walls themselves had started glowing. The light reflected off of the light blue hair of the girl sitting on the bed, who had only the sheets covering her body. Arek realized too late that he, too, had not a single article of clothing covering himself. The stark lighting seeked to highlight every inch of his skinny, borderline malnourished frame, illuminating every imperfection on his skin, and somehow making him aware of the fact that he was below average height for his age. Rather than just the light, it seemed that the entire room radiated perfection, demanding the same from Arek.

"J-Juni...?" Arek looked at the half-asleep face of the girl sitting atop the bed. If that was Juni, should he feel relieved or even more terrified?

"hmm?" The voice was certainly that of Juni's. Arek's eyes dashed from one side of the room to another, searching for something to cover himself with. For how fancy the bed was, the room was surprisingly empty, with only a full-length mirror on one wall, and a dresser on the other. There wasn't even a desk or a chair anywhere in sight.

Too late. Juni was already looking straight at him, much less surprised than the frantic and more-or-less panicking Arek.

Not a single word was exchanged. Arek swore he could feel his mind slamming against the back of his head, trying to get as far away from this awkward situation as possible.

Just what the hell had happened to get him there?

\---

Zeik's good luck had, as J would say, "officially run out."

On the second half of his trip, he had been forced to jump into a strong current to escape some wolves, almost got crushed by a falling tree, and had a bear rip a massive chunk out of his bag, which now held nothing. His week-long trip had now been running for close to a month, and there wasn't even a clue as to which direction he should be walking in. Living off of berries, mushrooms, the occasional rabbit or small animal, Zeik wandered around aimlessly, hoping to spot some trace of intelligence. The woods that he had exited into from Horiad were long gone, and so were the rolling hills of the grasslands that were past that. Any hint of a trail had disappeared, and to Zeik, rather than a test of survival skill, it felt like he had been placed in solitary confinement, in the world's largest mental asylum which took the shape of a...

Forest? Jungle? Whatever this place was did not matter to Zeik. What he saw of it was simply just Hell.

"Ah, maybe I died somehow, and this is my punishment." Zeik sighed, crunching the only patch of crunchy leaves in sight beneath his worn boots. "If only someone'd come save me, preferably a cute girl-!"

Zeik bit his own tongue, and then immediately felt the regret of doing so. No wishing for that, he had the cutest of all girlfriends waiting for him back... wherever that was.

Had he ever thought of giving up and just lying down to die, he probably would have. But for some reason, he'd been stopping himself from having any thoughts of the sort.

Sometimes, boredom can be more painful than a blunt-force impact to the skull, aimed intentionally to not kill or knock out, but just to cause pain. And that boredom had its full hold on Zeik, whose purpose he himself even started to question.

For his surroundings to go from woods to hills to a straight-up jungle in the span of less than a month, Zeik wanted to throw his bag into the trunk of a tree and scream how inconsistent, unfair, and just unrealistic this whole thing was. It was like the setting for some kind of badly-made action show, one that focused singularly on the action, and completely forgot what basic geography says.

There wasn't even a clean rock for him to sit on nearby, everything was covered in a layer of mud, moss, and soft, non-crunchy leaves. Zeik considered pulling himself up to the branches of a tree and hoping he can sleep there without falling off and snapping half the bones in his body. Actually, why were there trees the size of redwoods sitting in the jungle-like setting? Nothing even made sense anymore.

Water dripped onto Zeik's hair. The build-up in the leaves above was so immense that the space beneath the trees was in a state of constant drizzle. Zeik's clothes had been soaked, rolled in mud, and then soaked again so many times, they would probably permanently retain the color of mud even if he ran them through the wash and dry cycle over and over again for an entire week. At some point he felt annoyed of how the poorly-woven shirt seemingly scratched at his chest, but now he wished for something as comfortable as that compared to having his clothes permanently stuck to his skin.

"At this point, I'd even settle for one of those crappy lab showers." Zeik sighed, tugging at his collar. "An abandoned wooden hut or something with a roof would be a damn dream."

Though for him, that point had come and gone a long time ago.

Zeik looked up between the leaves, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sun, a bird, any hint that he was still in the same world that he was in before he entered this place.

Then, for the first time in who knows how long, Zeik heard a footstep.

He jerked his head to the left, right, up, and even down. If there was someone else there with him, maybe he'd be safe from going completely crazy.

Zeik heard rustling in the bushes to his left, then the snapping of a twig. There was a sound like someone was panicking to crawl, and then a splash as they landed in a puddle.

"Is there someone there?" For the first time, Zeik heard his own, deranged-sounding voice. He almost wanted to laugh to himself. Of course they'd be panicking to get away, nobody would approach Zeik if they even had a shred of sanity left.

Parting the branches of the overgrown bushes, Zeik stuck his head into what seemed surprisingly like a clearing, with no constant drizzle and actual light from the sun.

And in the center of it sat a single girl dressed in what Zeik wanted to describe as "rags", but didn't want to admit that they looked better than what he had on. She looked very scared indeed, her hair and clothing wet from the little puddle she had just fell into. Atop her head sat two flattened, soaked...

"Cat ears?!" Zeik involuntarily yelled, his excitement running through his body and chasing the dead-ness out. The girl let out a shriek and fell back into the puddle as Zeik emerged into the clearing. He didn't blame her. He must have looked about as sane as a rat put on steroids.

Oh, and soaked in coal tar.

Zeik actually felt pretty bad for the girl, somewhere in the back of his head. But at the time, his own excitement stood above all reason.

"uhm..." The girl scooted backwards, away from Zeik. "Please, I'll go back, so..."

Zeik stopped in his tracks. "Wha-"

"p-PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

"Huh?!"


	14. Chapter 14

Zeik wasn't sure what to take in first, the girl with the ears of a cat sitting above her head in front of him, or the fact that he had made it out of the hell that kept him wandering in circles for a month solely because he walked through one bush.

He turned back around, and found that whatever he had just come out of had disappeared completely, leaving him standing at the edge of a normal forest, with the sun beating down hard upon his head, as if he had not just been standing in a sunless, hopeless Venus flytrap of an overgrowth.

Wait, had these negative outlooks always been part of his thought process?

More importantly, had girls always had cat ears atop their heads? Because they fit together so damn well.

Zeik stood there, unsure of what to say, unsure of what to do, and unsure of what to think. The girl took this opportunity to stand up and run as fast as her legs would allow in the other direction.

"Ah, wait!" Zeik called out, but the girl-the fascinating creature that he assumed to be a girl-kept running.

He sighed, disappointed. For a second, he didn't even feel the sun beating down upon the nape of his neck.

once he did, however, a feeling of accomplishment washed over Zeik. He'd done it. He didn't know where he was, when it was, or why he was there, but he was there and not wherever the hell he was before.

The Sun! Well, suns. But he could see them! Overhead were two flaming balls of light, not an overgrowth of leaves! He had no clue what had led up to him being stuck there for so long, or what even happened there, but he was out!

Zeik found that odd. Why was it that he felt so adverse to the area that he had just been in, but he could not recall anything that would cause that adversity?

"It was like hell... Right?" Zeik examined his arms, legs, and clothing. Nothing seemed out of place, there were no rips, no scars, not even a scratch anywhere on him.

Wait, that doesn't add up. He was practically covered in mud, his clothes should have been borderline shredded, and his hair...

Zeik's eyes focused on a strand of hair that was dangling in front of his face.

His hair...

Wasn't it black before? No, he was sure that it had been black, so why was there a strand of blue hair right in front of his eyes?

Zeik turned to the little puddle on the ground, and tried to make out his reflection. His hair, which was a bit longer and messier than he would have preferred, was indeed still black, with a strand of sky blue down the right side of his bangs, and his eyes reflected the same color. But it didn't feel all too "new." In fact, why do the black parts look unfitting to Zeik instead?

It was as if he had gone through nothing at all. So why was it that he felt a chill whenever he thought about going back to... Wherever that was? Had he even been there in the first place? It very well could have been a dream.

Though, his memory's been so cloudy, he wouldn't have been surprised if everything was a dream, and that he was asleep at his desk at school.

"This feels pretty real for just a dream, though." Zeik said, running his fingers through the grass.

Well, if this wasn't a dream, then what kind of sadistic god had their divine fingers wrapped around Zeik's windpipe, ready to crush any attempt to catch a breath? Quite literally nothing made sense. Rather than being in the middle of an exciting adventure in a brand new world, Zeik felt like he had been thrown into a terribly made RPG storyline, where continuity was sacrificed for quicker passage to each event, and none of the events linked up at all as a result.

If Zeik had simply been thrown into some shitty game, it'd make sense, but he sure as hell was not staring at a screen, and as far as technology goes, VR did not feel anything like real life. Though it'd still be a better explanation as to why everything just seemed to happen, and why he couldn't gather any coherent memories of any past events.

A better explanation than nothing, at least.

Zeik's excitement, confusion, and any other emotion he was experiencing quickly turned into frustration and annoyance, and the hand the he had run through the grass tightened around the tall, green blades and ripped them out of the ground. He then drove that fistful of grass into the ground that it had come from over and over again, caking his knuckles in a mixture of blood and dirt.

Nothing! He knew absolutely nothing! He had been forcefully ripped from the life he was perfectly content with, the life where he knew where he was going, had a girlfriend, and had plans for the future for, the life where he had a friend who he could strike up a casual conversation about anything at any time. Now he had none of it. It'd all been taken away from him, and he didn't even know what went wrong.

His emotions had flipped so quickly, that even he wanted to stop and be surprised about it, but his body and mind moved too quickly to allow him to do that.

He was mad. Not sure what it was at, or even why, but Zeik felt a burning, inexplicable sense of frustration that drove his fist into the ground, over and over and over.

And through that frustration rose a single thought, a simple solution.

"I'll just make it back there." Zeik decided, not bothering to think logically. "I'll make it to the top in this damn world, and I'll go right back to where I came from!"

It was a foolish, childish thing to say in a situation that anyone could see as hopeless, or rather, hopelessly confusing. But Zeik was determined to follow through with it. And if he couldn't, he'd at least die knowing he tried.

Zeik started laughing. Had his emotions always been this out of whack? He wondered what J would say, if he saw this. Would he laugh? Would he try to comfort Zeik? Knowing the type of person J was, he'd do neither of those things.

He would simply smile, and say,

"If you're so set on it, then you already know what to do." Zeik repeated the phrase he had often heard from the normally laid-back J, who often seemed like he had no other outlook on life other than jokes and laughter. Such serious moments were not rare to come by, if one hung around him enough.

A feeling of sadness and nostalgia welled up from inside of Zeik. Ah, if only he could have J here with him.

Then, speaking to nobody in particular, Zeik stood, reaching up and grabbing at the sky, taking hold of whatever fate awaited him.

"I'll get there, just you wait."

\---

"J-Juni?" Arek's hands flew to cover his crotch, and he turned his flushed face away from the naked figure on the bed.

He braced himself to be hit, yelled at, whatever else that happened in situations like this. Instead, only soft mumbling came from the direction of the bed, and Arek could barely make out the words.

"Elei..."

There was a tinge of sadness in her half-asleep tone. Arek turned back to look at her.

Between her silky, blue hair and smooth, subtle curves, Arek hadn't been sure where to look at first. But he was so focused on what she was saying that at that moment, he couldn't be bothered to think about where he was looking.

"Give him... back..." Juni's hands reached out in front of her like she was trying to grab something, or someone. "Keep your... hands... off..." With that, Juni fell back down and returned to sleeping peacefully, the only sound in the room being her soft breathing and Arek's pounding heartbeat.

Arek wanted to walk over to the bed and burn her sleeping image into his mind, to keep the sensation of her skin on his fingertips, but he jerked back as soon as he took a step forward. He had no clue why he was here, but this was obviously not his own house. Even if it was, he couldn't bring himself to assault a defenseless girl like this. Arek scanned the room again, and spotted his clothes neatly folded and placed on a chair in the corner of the room. He quickly threw them on and looked out the window. The room was on the second floor, but there seemed to be a bush down below. Arek took a deep breath, put his foot on the windowsill, and...

"You'll hurt yourself if you jump from here, you know?"

Arek almost launched out the window, but barely stopped himself. He turned around slowly, praying to any and all of the 4 supreme deities that his ears were just messing with him.

Wasn't she just sleeping peacefully?

Atop the bed sat Juni, her eyes fully open and staring straight at him. She made no attempt to hide her body, so Arek quickly turned back around.

"A-ah..." Arek started thinking up his will, or maybe a suicide note.

"Don't worry, I didn't do anything to you." Juni said. "Well, nothing of that sort, anyway."

Arek wasn't sure whether to breathe a sigh of relief, disappointment, or to be even more terrified.

"Then..."

What DID you do? Arek wanted to ask.

"I unintentionally dragged you into something you weren't supposed to be a part of earlier, so I had to block of some of your memories, just the ones that heard a few words too many." Juni said casually, with a soft but wicked smile on her face. "You'll remember them when you need them... IF you need them."

That's not reassuring at all! Arek wanted to yell, but his mouth refused to open.

"You can walk right out that door right there. Nobody's going to be waiting outside to catch you."

Arek glanced at the door, and then at what was presumably a bush down below, out the window.

"Ah. Sure." Arek nodded, and walked towards the door. He turned the knob to open it, and saw that the hall, or at least, what he assumed was a hallway, was pitch black, even though the room behind him was so well-lit.

"Then I'll see you later," Juni's voice had none of that innocent cheerfulness that it had when she dragged him to class. Instead, it seemed sweet. Sickly sweet, like it was dripping with the juices of a fruit you thought was a vibrant, juicy apple, or the venom of a snake with a colorful pattern that you thought was a safe species. To sum it up, she sounded appealing, but terribly dangerous. "My dear, dear Romeo." with these final words that sent a chill down Arek's spine, he was pushed through the doorway by some invisible force. When he hit the ground on the other side, he realized it was the floor of his very own room, and not some rich girl's hallway.

"What the fuck..." Arek ran his hand along the floorboards. These were, in fact, the splintery old boards of his own room, and the silver light that shone through the window told him that it was in the middle of the night, as the buildings he lived near were packed so close together that the moon could only be seen if it was directly above.

He failed any attempt at comprehending what had just happened. He'd heard of "Alters," a popular name for those who can bend, manipulate, and create their own reality, but he'd believed that it was all some fairy tale, just like most normal people around. Anyone who actually believed in them were considered childish, delusional, or cultists.

No, let's not jump to conclusions. There could have been some rationality to what just happened. Surely, the supernatural is not the only thing that could explain such-

Arek cut his own thoughts off. No, no matter how you looked at it, what he just witnessed was completely impossible.

"A dream, then!" Arek declared, and jumped onto his own bed. "I had a weird dream, and fell off the bed, that's all!."


	15. Chapter 15

Arek awoke to-rather, he was notified of being awake due to-his mother knocking on the door to his room. A rare occurrence, considering that he always woke up before her, and was headed off to school before anyone else in the house even begins moving.

So he had been awake this whole time, huh? Had he been daydreaming? In the time that was supposed to be used for actual dreaming?

"'I had a weird dream, and fell off the bed,' was it?" Arek recalled his own words.

As much as he wanted to keep believing that, it was pretty clear what the truth was.

Arek brought his knees up to his chest and squeezed his eyes shut. How the hell was he supposed to take something like that in?

He didn't want to go to school. He didn't want to see her face.

How was he supposed to act around her now? Juni had been over-familiar and borderline annoying from the moment he had met her, and he'd only known her for a single day. He certainly couldn't have called her a "friend," could he?

Then, what was this tightness in his chest, as if he'd lost something?

"C'mon, man." Arek slapped himself. "How sad am I? Getting all worked up over a girl I hardly know..."

Arek slid off his bed, and, albeit reluctantly, changed into a fresh uniform. He was undoubtedly and completely late this time, so there was no point in rushing through everything.

... Or so he thought, but he found himself sprinting as fast as he could down the street just moments after.

Why? Arek asked himself as his legs carried him down the road to school. Was school important to him? Sure it was. Going to a noble school was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, no, more like once-in-several-lifetimes. But even then, it wasn't like getting to school less late would lighten his punishment.

No, it wasn't that. Arek dug through his mind for another reason. Why? Why was he going to such lengths to get to school, to that desk in the back of the room, next to-

Ah, that was why.

Arek couldn't find another reason, not because there wasn't one, but because one was filling up his mind so much that he could no longer look past it.

Her. Juni. He'd known her since yesterday, yet he couldn't take his mind off her. That silky blue hair, those bright, round eyes that seemed to contain the sky itself, and that beautiful pale skin, all adding up to the perfect face... Calling him "Romeo..."

A part of Arek knew that he had dove head-first into a witch's spell, but even if he had, even if he knew he had, he just had to know what it meant.

His fuzzy memories, Alters, and "Romeo."

Just what in the world did all of it mean?

\---

As Zeik ran after the cat-eared girl, who was pulling further and further ahead and becoming just a dot on the horizon, He questioned why he was so excited. Sure, it was every man's dream to see a catgirl in the flesh, but this one was just a kid, and chasing after her was definitely not something someone who was nearly an adult would do.

He slowed to a stop and caught his breath, his logic overriding his excitement. If there was one, there's gotta be more. Zeik decided to only start giving chase if he found someone worth chasing after.

Zeik stood back up, straightened his back, and opened his eyes after a couple of nice, deep breaths to get his body out of running mode. However, instead of grass being in every direction he could see, like it was a moment ago, Zeik found himself standing very close to the gates of a large city. The walls on either side of the gate were so high that from his angle, they seemed to reach into the clouds. Before him sat what he assumed to be guards, dressed in light armor with swords sheathed on their waists, playing some sort of board game. The guards were surprised at a sudden teenager appearing in the middle of their drinking game, and drew their swords out of habit.

Zeik nearly started running the other way in fear. Was he not welcome? Were they going to kill him? He tried to think of a way to avoid either, but all his brain could come up with was to get on his knees and beg for his life, or to leg it out of there as hard as humanly possible.

Thankfully, the guards' alarm was short-lived, and they put away their weapons as they approached Zeik.

"We apologize for having startled you. I assume you're here to enter our great Capital?"

Wow... there certainly was no room for modesty, and for a good reason. Just the city's walls were the definition of the word "great," or "grand."

Zeik got over his initial shock at learning that this was the Capital he had been heading towards, and nodded. The guards asked him a few questions, recorded his name, and let him through without so much as a pat-down.

"Man, if this world had terrorists, these people would be in some deep shit." Zeik laughed at his own joke, as nobody else was there to hear it. His laughter was cut short, however, by a dull, throbbing pain in the back of his head that cleared his thoughts out one-by-one.

He sat there for a moment, trying to regain his bearings as the pain wore off.

Zeik looked behind him, trying to find anyone to suspect of hitting him in the head with a rubber mallet, before remembering that rubber probably didn't exist yet. That, and nobody was behind him.

"I doubt there'd be doctors capable of treating anything related to the brain in this world." Zeik sighed, praying that what he just felt wasn't the symptoms of some deadly disease. Deciding to just leave it there until something else happened, he continued down the middle of the wide, cobblestone-paved road towards what he hoped to be the center of the town. As he walked, more and more buildings that resembled shops and restaurants lined the sides of the road, tempting him with the delicious smells coming from inside.

As he walked on, Zeik noticed that the groups of people walking up and down the same street as him were avoiding the center of the road, almost as if creating a path for something. Zeik couldn't help but feel uneasy, since he probably stood out walking down the direct middle of said road. In a sense, it was like hearing the sirens of a firetruck, but not knowing where it was. Should he pull to the side, or should he keep going?

A moment after, Zeik was informed of why the middle of the road was cleared out by someone ramming into his right shoulder at full speed, and the both of them were knocked to the ground.

"What the hell?" Zeik sat up and checked his palms, elbows, and knees for any serious scratches. Thankfully, it didn't seem like anything dangerous as long as he disinfected them quickly. While that brought up concerns of its own, Zeik was more interested in who could have been running down the street and not paying attention in broad daylight.

Lying on the ground, just a few feet away from him, was a skinny black-haired boy who was probably a few inches shorter than Zeik. He wore some sort of uniform, with a badge or pin on his sleeve that had a silhouette of a humanoid creature with six wings engraved on it.

Zeik stood up and offered the guy a hand, suddenly feeling self-conscious about the shabby clothes he had on. The black-haired boy, however, ignored him and got up on his own, offering nothing but a quiet "sorry" before dusting himself off and continuing on.

Zeik grabbed the boy's left arm as he began to run, and the latter froze in his track and turned back around, towards Zeik.

"I'm sure you've got something important you're rushing to, but can you point me to the nearest first-aid station or something similar?" Zeik pointed at his palms, which were covered in blood from the fall. A little more serious than Zeik expected. "Preferably something that can clean this up?"

The boy hesitated for a second, but didn't seem unreasonable enough to leave Zeik there and just continue running after that. "I know a few healers who can fix something like that in a flash, but..."

"Healers? Just point me that way, you don't need to show me the way or anything."

"Well, they're at the Academy, which is where I'm headed, but..." The boy continued hesitating.

"Then what're we waiting for? I won't cause any problems, I promise. I just don't want my palms to get infected and cause actual issues."

"Infected? By what?"

"Nevermind. But that's fine, right?"

"A-ah, sure. But..." The boy struggled to search for a way to describe something, and gave up. "I guess you'll see."

"Since you're helping me out, I'll introduce myself." Zeik straightened his back. "I'm Zeik. I'd shake your hand, but well... You can see why that's not a good idea."

This got a small chuckle from the black-haired boy, who was indeed a bit shorter than him despite looking to be around the same age. Those sunken eyes of his really reminded Zeik of the days he spent cramming for finals, except those days weren't that long ago, so he had no clue why he felt so nostalgic just seeing the guy. "I can see very clearly. My name's Arek, and I'm pretty late to school."

"Damn, you're heading to school?" Zeik realized that he probably should've come to this conclusion earlier. "But it's like, noon."

"Yeah. If you want to get patched up, hurry." With that, Arek took off down the path created by the separation of people again.

Zeik felt a bit of irritation at being yanked along, but followed after Arek after a short pause. If that was the only place that had these "healers" that Arek described, then there probably wasn't anything to treat an infected wound anywhere near him. He'd get to see a school of this world in action, too. Zeik decided that these were the wins of the situation, and put all the strength in his legs towards keeping up with Arek.

Maybe, just maybe, this could be where he'd find a few friends, or maybe even more cat-eared girls.

Just thinking about it pumped Zeik up. Once he made it back, he'd have to brag to J about all of this.


	16. Chapter 16

"And we're here." Arek turned around, an expression resembling that of either smugness or pride at being able to show off the massive school he attends to someone else.

"I... Can... See... That." Zeik said between heavy gasps of air. It felt like his lungs had been put through the wash cycle, hung out to dry, then starched. He took a moment to catch his breath. "Do you do this every day?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Arek grinned. Finally, someone who understood his efforts. "Come on, you wanted to see a healer, didn't you?"

"At this point I'm better off just letting this get infected and dying."

Arek couldn't help but laugh at how helpless this guy standing before him was. Not only was he overly worried about a small scrape, he didn't seem to have any clue how far inside the city the Academy sat. "Are you new to the Capital, Zeik?" He asked.

"Yep, just walked through the gate this morning."

Arek was surprised that he'd admitted it so easily. Didn't this guy realize how likely it was for newcomers yo get mugged in the Capital? surely he'd heard stories.

Curious, Arek asked, "Say, where'd you come from? I hear it's pretty hard to get out of the nearby kingdoms. Do you have many connections?"

Arek realized how terrible of a question this was after it left his lips. If Zeik did have connections, he could very well end Arek with hardly any effort, and a sensitive question like that was more than reason enough.

Much to his relief, Zeik only shook his head.

"Nah, actually, it was kind of by chance that I got here. I'd try to tell you the whole story, but..."

"If it's a long story, we can talk later." Arek waved it off, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll be heading to class now. Just walk straight that way to the healers, you won't miss them."

"Got it. Thanks, man." Zeik hurried off in the direction Arek was pointing in.

Too late, Arek realized that he should have told Zeik where to find him after the school day was over. Oh well, they'll run into each other again, probably.

As Arek walked through the halls and into the classroom, he realized that this was the only time he hadn't exploded through the door in a while. Usually, he'd been so rushed to get to his seat that the state of the door's hinges were hardly the first thing on his mind.

He also felt like he was forgetting something. Something that he was going to do...

Arek's eyes snapped to the back of the room, where he expected to see Juni, sitting there with her hair pulled into a ponytail as always. Their eyes would meet, and he'd walk up to his seat beside her with a smile.

But there wasn't a single trace of her up there. There wasn't a person sitting up behind the rest of the class, no telltale blue hair that somehow blew in nonexistent wind, and no blue eyes for him to meet.

At her seat, there were papers scatted all across the desk, with some even on the ground. The inkwell had also fallen over, its contents seeping into the carpeted floor.

\---

"He told me we could talk later, so I can expect to find him around, right?" Zeik mumbled to himself, resisting the urge to scratch at his bandaged palms. "What was his name... Arek? Seems like a pretty cool guy."

Who knew that being healed with what looked like magic would itch so bad? He'd totally expected a sudden physical and mental relief, like in a TV show. Zeik silently cursed the writers of his world for leading him to believe such a myth. The bandages were only there to keep him from digging the wound up again, apparently.

To be honest, he didn't even think the scrapes were that bad, he just wanted to see this world's "magic" at work. And now that he had, he seriously regretted it.

Zeik considered heading into the main school building just to see what prestigious was defined as in this world, but decided against it. He was fortunate enough they'd let him waltz onto campus and get a free heal, he wasn't going to push his luck and walk into the actual building. Just from how the place looked on the outside, though, it didn't look like a place that anyone could easily get into.

"Is that average-looking guy actually really impressive?" Zeik thought, meaning Arek.

In that case, he'd better find the guy again. Having connections like that would definitely be helpful, or at least he'd have bragging rights somewhere.

Zeik figured he should probably find someplace where he'd run into Arek again, and settled with a bench near the campus's front gates. There's no way he'd miss anybody walking out of the school building if he was sitting there.

"I've gotta say, these healers are really no joke." Zeik partially unwrapped the bandages on his left hand, revealing that any trace of the scrapes on there had been thoroughly erased. He removed the bandages altogether, and rubbed his palms against his pants to alleviate some of the itchiness.

"Though this part really suuuuuuuuucks." Zeik said out loud, desperately controlling himself from driving his fingernails right into the opposite palm. This itch was on another level than petting a cat or touching poison ivy. If this was how people recovered in this world, he prayed to God that he'd never get hurt again.

Then, suddenly, a chill went down Zeik's spine. A prickling sensation at the base of his neck, like a spidey-sense of sorts.

Instinctively, he dove off the bench and rolled to the side. He watched as the spot where he was just sitting got run straight through with a giant spear of ice.

"Now THAT'S NOT NORMAL!" Zeik screamed as another hunk of ice cracked the paved path a few feet away from him.

Zeik dove behind the nearest bit of cover-a large apple tree-as the jolly St. Nick's entire elf battalion unleashed their wrath upon him. His eyes shot from one side of the courtyard to the next, trying to find his assailant.

There-standing in the center of it all, right beside the generic fountain that stood before every single prestigious school-was a girl with light-blue hair, an incredibly fair complexion, and eyes cold enough that Zeik would not have been surprised if he was told that she was sending those frozen bits of hell in a jar towards him with just her gaze.

Seriously. The amount of hatred in her expression directed solely at Zeik was almost enough to make him piss his pants. It was like bumping into a high-level player in the starting fields where PVP was allowed. The only difference being that if he died here, he'd probably not be able to come back.

Zeik opened his mouth to try and reason with her, but his voice was completely drowned out by the sound of ice whizzing by, embezzling the other side of the tree with shiny ornaments capable of rending flesh, and shattering upon hitting each other.

In situations like this, it'd be pretty normal to be doing some combination of freaking the hell out and asking oneself the question of "why am I getting attacked, and who hates me enough to do it?" But no such thoughts crossed Zeik's mind. In fact, his mind was in such a state of panic, he himself couldn't believe that these were the things he was feeling. He was behind cover, temporarily safe. Yet his heart pumped harder and harder, to the point where he felt like his chest was going to explode. Why was he so terrified? He'd always thought of himself as a relatively tough guy. Even if someone was trying to kill him, he wouldn't wimp out so hard, right?

But this was different. Zeik felt as if he'd experienced this firsthand before, which was impossible. There was no way he'd have been assaulted by a hail of icy daggers in his world, and he would have remembered such a thing in this world. He closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing.

Just as he began to calm down, a blade of ice pierced the side of his shoe and drove itself into Zeik's foot. A shock ran through his body, and sparks appeared on the backs of his eyelids.

\---

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Arek yelled as he jumped over the half-broken fountain, almost tripping on the cratered walkway. He had been the only one who immediately rushed out of the building when the first chunk of ice smashed the sidewalk. Nobody else even batted an eye. Was this stuff normal around nobles?

Arek had basically seen all of it. Zeik was sitting down at a bench near the gates, and suddenly around the corner comes Juni, who immediately starts shooting deadly bits of ice at him. The two might have had a history, but Arek didn't know that. He just felt like he needed to step in since nobody else would.

And the best way to do so, he figured, was to head-on tackle the girl who had reality wrapped around her fingers.

Arek didn't realize how stupid that sounded until he was flying through the air on a collision course with Juni's midsection. Somehow, the tackle connected, and the barrage of ice abruptly stopped.

Juni let out a frustrated groan, much like a teenager who'd been told by their parent to clean their room would, and grabbed Arek by the back of his collar. As she tossed him off her, another wave of icicles formed above their heads, aimed at Zeik, who had fallen over and into plain sight.

"Wait, stop!" Arek yelled, landing a good ten feet away. "Why are you doing thi-"

His words were cut off by confused silence, as Juni was no longer standing there before him. The fountain to his left was running normally, and the ground under him was no longer riddled with craters, small and large alike. The only thing that was out of place was Zeik's unconscious form, half visible from behind the tree. It seemed that he had passed out.

Arek looked towards the school building, then back to Zeik, and then at the ground he was sitting on. "What just happened?" He asked nobody in particular.

\---

Juni felt all the air leave her lungs as she was flung into a wall. Her vision darkened around the edges, and one of her ankles was bent at an unnatural angle.

She had no time to take in her surroundings. A foot flew out from the darkness to connect with her ribs, and she was sent skidding sideways across the cold, stone floor.

She had just been in the courtyard of the Academy, about to kill that wretched Prince, who had escaped from her Uncle's grasps and been missing since. Just when she thought she'd found him, and was about to get rid of him, once and for all, how could this-

Her thoughts weren't allowed to finish. She was grabbed by the collar of her shirt and slammed against the wall again. Her vision began to clear up as she was held in this position for a moment, and she realized that she was in a room made completely out of white stone, starkly lit with black furniture to contrast. The darkness had only come from the fact that her eyes had been unable to see clearly as she was being tossed around.

Before her stood a small girl whose skin was so pale, it almost looked grey. Her long, green-silver hair was tied up sloppily in a single tail off the left side of her head. She was slightly shorter than Juni, with a slim, relatively "childish" body, as Juni would have described it. The girl wore strange clothing that looked to be something similar to a simple shirt, just as simple pants, and slippers. The girl seemed to be an early teenager, around 13 or 14 years old, 15 if one were to stretch their definitions a bit, but the rage in her emerald eyes was genuinely terrifying, even to Juni. To see such an innocent, pure-looking face contorted in complete hatred... It sent ice water through Juni's veins.

"I'll get straight to the point, thought I think it's pretty apparent." The girl talked in a tone completely unbefitting of neither her relatively cute voice nor of a lady, and in a strange dialect used only by elves, as Juni had learned during one of her past encounters with the long-eared race. It was almost difficult to understand, but so clear at the same time.

"Lay another hand on him, and I'll show you Hell."

"A-another... hand?" Juni found it hard to speak with a fist pressed against her collarbone. "Who?"

"The boy with the blue hair. You know who I'm talking about." The mysterious girl scowled in an, again, completely unladylike manner. "Touch him again, and I'll do more than just kill you in the most painful and slow way imaginable."

"Why do you care... About him...?" Juni felt a bit of her own anger well up from inside. Did this girl have any idea how much pain Prince had caused her aunt and uncle? Did she realize just how evil that bastard could be?

"I don't. Not about the one you're thinking of, anyway." The girl said. "I'm talking about the one supposedly inhabiting his body right now. He goes by the name of 'Zeik.'"

Juni drew in as much of a breath as she could, and tried to put some assertion into her voice. "That's just a fake name created to trick his- AAAAHHHHHHH!" She screamed as the sound of her collarbone snapping in two reverberated around the room. The girl drove her other fist into the wall besides Juni's face.

"I didn't ask for you to insert anything, DID I?"

Juni was unable to speak, so she desperately shook her head while trying as hard as she could to keep her collarbone as stable as possible.

"I am also under the impression that this 'Zeik' might be a simple alter-ego, so I do have a favor to ask of you... Not like you have the right to decline." The girl's anger was replaced by a smug smile, showing that Juni had no control here whatsoever. "Don't worry, this might end up helping you out, too. I'm not completely unreasonable, you see?"

Juni searched the room for something-anything-to use against the girl with a fist against her crushed collarbone. She tried to imagine a thin, sharp blade that could pierce and slice up any normal person, but nothing appeared. It was as if her powers were being completely overridden.

"I want you to keep an eye on him. Spy on him, hire someone to, or earn his trust somehow, I don't care. But take note of everything unnatural about him, I'll be watching, too." The girl stated her demands. "So if you try to lay even a single finger on him before I can confirm whether 'Zeik' or 'Prince' is inhabiting that body, I'll know."

"Why don't you..." do it yourself, then? Juni wanted to say, but each word she said caused a stabbing pain at her collar, and she couldn't get the entire sentence out.

"Why?" the girl seemed to have understood. "why don't I do it myself, you ask?"

Juni was pulled forward, no longer being held against the wall, as the mysterious girl brought their faces extremely close, to the point where their noses were almost touching.

"Why would I, when I have someone completely at my mercy right here?" The girl said in a low voice, so low, that Juni could hardly hear her even from so close.

"Who..." Each breath Juni took got shorter and shorter, whether it was because of how terrified she was of the girl in front of her, or her broken collarbone, she didn't know.

"You don't need to know that. You don't need to know where this is, either."

Juni couldn't push out words anymore, so she just nodded as subtly as she could.

"You have one job. Watch over Zeik, and make sure no serious harm comes to him. If I'm forced to step in, I'll do so in a manner that'll for sure ruin any and all of your plans. Understood?" The girl didn't wait for a response. "I'm sending you back now. Tell no one about what happened here, and do not try to defy me. Most of all, do not release Zeik's information to anyone that would harm him. Once you've found out what you need to, bring him to me. You'll know where to go, don't worry. Take any action on your own regarding this matter, and you're dead."

Juni fell to the ground as the girl let go of her uniform shirt, which was now messed up enough to be unwearable.

"What is he... to you?" Juni choked out this last question as a somehow even brighter light lit up the room.

"Zeik?" The anger in the girl's tone all but vanished as she said the name. "He's..."

With that, the girl's face split into smile so terrifying, it made Juni want to tear her own throat out for asking the question.

"Did you really think you were going to get an answer out of me?" was the last thing the girl said before Juni found herself sitting back on the ground in the courtyard of the Academy. Her collarbone still hurt, and her clothes were all scratched up and bloody from being tossed around. Her heart was pounding so hard that she could hear it loud and clear.

"Juni?" Arek's voice came from her left, where he was helping Zeik to his feet. "Juni, what happened to you?"

She couldn't answer. The darkness clouded the edges of her vision again, and she fell to the side, unconscious.


	17. Chapter 17

The healers were wonderful at their jobs, but even they shook their heads in dismay at Juni's injuries. It wasn't that they were not fixable, a few broken bones was nothing compared to the powers of a healer, but her injuries would not stay fixed. After a short pause, it would become apparent that Juni's scrapes, snapped collarbone, half-crushed ribs, and twisted ankle had come right back, even after they had been completely fixed just a moment before.

Arek paced the outside of the room restlessly. Zeik had come with him this time, and was sitting against the wall, not sure what to do. He did feel a little resentful towards the person inside, after all.

"She's still in there, huh?" Zeik gestured towards the so-called "operating room," which was basically just where healers worked their more potent magic without being seen. "Still being like that after having those healers work on her nonstop for two days... Has that happened before?"

Arek reminded himself that Zeik was brand new to the Capital, and pushed his frustration down. "No, even the worst injuries made it out of there perfectly fixed within the hour. I have never heard of anybody being kept in there for longer than a day. Those healers could even dispel curses and wounds dealt directly to the soul."

"Shit..." Zeik looked towards the doors again.

Arek paced a little faster, then stopped and faced a wall for a few seconds, then repeated.

"That aside, you okay?" Arek stopped his pacing to ask Zeik. "They fixed all your problems, right?"

"I didn't have many to begin with." Zeik shrugged. "There was a hole in my foot, but I passed out afterwards and it didn't seem like anything else hit me."

Arek thought for a moment come up with something flattering, but... "Isn't that..."

"It's kinda pathetic. I know." Zeik sighed.

"I understand though, seeing that stuff for the first time is probably pretty-"

"No, seriously, I know it's sad. Don't even try." Zeik said. "Is she really that strong?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Arek said. "I have a rough feeling that she's supposed to be someone of importance, but apparently she had to mess with my memories a bit to cover something up. Nothing I can really trust in my memories related to her, I guess."

Arek let out a sigh and slid down the wall he was leaning on until he was fully sitting on the ground. Zeik couldn't help but cringe at the dirt from the floor getting all over Arek's white uniform pants.

"That's rough, man."

Arek nodded. The two sat there in silence for a moment.

"Then who could have been strong enough to do such a thing to her?" Zeik decided to ask the question they were both evading.

Arek suddenly became very interested in the small cracks on the floor tiles he sat on.

"You probably don't have an answer, sorry for putting you on the spot." Zeik apologized. "But it's a scary thought."

Arek let out a "hm." And went back to sitting silently.

The silence quickly got to Zeik, who wasn't exactly a social guy in the past, but staying quiet only worked to a point, and then it got awkward. He reached into his bag and pulled out a crude, small notebook that he had made himself, since there was a lack of note-taking materials on sale, unsurprisingly for the time period they were supposedly in. He offered it to Arek.

"What's this?" Arek was visibly confused. He'd seen books before, but never something that'd easily fit in the palm on his hand. Most books were leather-bound, expensive, and extremely heavy.

"I call it a 'notebook.'" Zeik couldn't help but feel a bit proud, even though it wasn't his own creation. "You've been missing class for the past two days to stick by here, haven't you? You'll need something to help you get back into the swing of things. This is that."

"Wouldn't this be worth a lot if you decided to sell it?" Arek said, suspicious.

"Like hell people are going to buy them." Zeik laughed. "I had a friend who is super involved with the business field, and from him, I've learned that no matter how innovative something is, if it's nothing that can't be done by conventional means, nobody has a reason to want to buy it. People can make these things easily, and even if they do pay me for the convenience of not having to make one, I'm not going to make much more than enough to cover the material costs."

"Makes sense." Arek pretended to understand what Zeik had just said. "But this must have costed at least something for you to make, right? You sure you want to give it away like that?"

"It costed a few pieces of paper and a bit of string. Basically free to make one for your own use." Zeik waved the question off. "Don't sweat it. You'll need it, probably. It's way better than just keeping the notes in your brain. Seriously. I hear horror stories about how stingy they are with their paper around these parts."

Arek chuckled. "The stuff does cost alot. Only high-ranking nobles like her could afford to write all her notes down. How did you even get your hands on this paper?"

"It's a long process, but basically I shaved some wood off a tree and went from there." Zeik said. "I got pretty bored sitting in an inn room alone, you know?"

Arek gave Zeik a strange look. Did this guy just say that he MADE his own paper? Couldn't he make a fortune off of that, alone?

"No, I'd rather not make an entire industry my enemy." Zeik said, as if reading Arek's mind. "If I released this method of making paper, or even started selling the stuff on my own, I'd singlehandedly bring down the entire market price, and the people who hold a monopoly on that knowledge would come find me. I was surprised that nobody knew how to make paper, actually. I thought it'd be common knowledge by now."

"You sure know a lot about this stuff."

Zeik shrugged. "Eh. I had a friend who's obsessed with it. He would have been one of the richest teenagers in the world if he didn't already have enough money to not need to bother."

"You speak pretty highly of this friend of yours." Arek pointed out. "Where is he now?"

"To be honest, I don't know." Zeik's voice was slightly tinged with sadness. "I kind of got yanked out of my normal, everyday life, and that's how I ended up here. Sorry, but I can't really tell you the details."

Zeik wanted to tell Arek about everything. How he came from a world hundreds of years more advanced, and how he'd found himself in this strange world in a strange body, he felt as if it would bring trouble, almost like he'd experienced it before. He wanted to tell Arek so bad, but the words would not come out of his mouth, which refused to open for such a purpose.

"If you ended up here, you probably went through something. I won't bug you too much about it." Arek said, serious. "I was born in the Capital. Never left, never had a chance to."

Zeik's eyes snapped upwards from their focus on the floor to look at Arek. His whole life, he'd been surrounded by these massive walls and countless buildings? It would have been like looking up at the sky from the bottom of a well. Doesn't he feel trapped?

Zeik opened his mouth to ask this, but then realized how rude it was, and held off.

"The Capital isn't all that grand of a place those on the outside make it out to be." Arek said. "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

Arek went silent again, and Zeik took a deep breath. It was true that those on the outside spoke extremely highly of the Capital, but...

Wait, how did he know that? It wasn't like he'd spoken to many people ever since he'd started his journey.

"That's why she means so much to me." Arek continued, cutting off Zeik's line of thought. "Juni's at the top. She's been places nobody else has, and she'll go places nobody else will. If I follow her, don't you think I'll be able to go those places, too?"

Zeik couldn't help but smile a bit. So that was why he'd been sacrificing his school life just to wait here for the past two days. Arek did feel trapped, and that blue-haired girl was his only way out. No wonder he was completely obsessed with her.

Well, even if he couldn't go to those places, he could dream, couldn't he?

After a pause, Arek let out a bit of a sad laugh. "It hurts me, having to rely on that belief. I'd just met her not too long ago, and I'm already speaking like I'd have her for life." Arek said. "Ah, sorry. I'm going on a rant.

"I'm sure you'll get there, even without her." Zeik said encouragingly. "I mean, you've gotten into the hardest school around these parts already, you must have had a reason for doing that, right?"

Arek shook his head. "I got in by chance. That's all. There's no way a commoner kid like me will get anywhere in that Noble-centered school. I'll be lucky to graduate."

"That's not a good thing to tell yourself." Zeik said. "If the school's so Noble-centered, then it's even more impressive that you managed to get in. You're overlooking your own ability, because those around you told you that you have none. Trust me on this one, I've been there."

"You sure are assuming a lot, for someone I just barely met a couple days ago."

"Am I wrong, though?"

At this, Arek just laughed. After a short silence, he stood up and said, "Maybe you're right."

Arek dusted his pants off and placed the notebook in the pockets of his slightly dirty white uniform jacket. It was only then, looking up at Arek from a sitting position, did Zeik realize how much taller and more well-built Arek was compared to himself. While Zeik had a scrawny body that probably only reached 5'2". Arek stood at least a full three inches higher, and while he wasn't overly buff in any way, it was clear that his arms weren't just skin and bone, even with his jacket on. Zeik silently cursed whoever the previous owner of his body was for not taking proper care of it.

"You going somewhere?" Zeik, stood up too, hoping to close some of the distance between his height and Arek's.

"I'm going to go back to classes. You're right. I've been missing a bit too much." Arek said. "You don't go to school around these parts, do you?"

"Nope."

"Ever considered joining the Academy? If I could get in, I bet someone like you could just as well."

"I'll think on it." Zeik said as Arek left the building.

Zeik turned to look at the doors through which Juni had been carried a full two days ago. She had attacked him the moment she saw him, and he held plenty of contempt for her because of that sole reason, but she meant everything to Arek. Zeik wasn't the type to call someone he'd just met a couple days ago his friend, but Arek sure fit that description. Zeik decided to judge Juni fairly, without any of his bias as someone who'd been attacked by her, when she woke back up.

"the Academy, huh?" Zeik sat back down against the wall. "I'm going to need more notebooks."


	18. Chapter 18

In any story, the enemy of humanity is some sort of demon. Whether it was a demon that killed people with curses and miasma, or some sort of demonkin, a race powerful enough to need a hero from another world to take down.

I had assumed the latter when I arrived in the human kingdom of Azria, a place that almost worshiped the idea of an otherworldly hero. It was there that I learned more about the Demon race, and their conflicts with the humans of this world.

Apparently, before the recorded history of this world began, there were more than just four races living in it. All the stuff I had been told about it sounded like epic tales, folk tales, or just complete rubbish, but I can say it was safe to assume that whatever my race was, my body had probably come from that era.

I heard stories of dragons, leviathans, krakens, just name it. None of what I was told overlapped, so it was hard to find one to believe. However, one thing that I did notice was that the Beastkin and Elf races existed in none of them. It was just humans, demons, some race of deities, and a list of mythical creatures. I didn't doubt that those mythical creatures existed, of course. After all, I myself had literally flown my way to the human kingdoms.

Of course, I kept quiet about my ability to fly and my origins from another world. I wasn't looking to bring any trouble my way. This, however, did not stop me from digging up all the information on these subjects, since I was pretty interested to see what kind of conflict was between the humans and demons of this world.

What I learned? Nothing. That was the problem.

There was no sensible information I could get anywhere about this conflict. There was also no information on Beastkin and Elves besides their physical appearances and obvious things like Elves are good at magical stuff, and Beastkin are physically strong. Each trip to the bookstore felt like a complete waste of time, and each time I found myself returning more and more frustrated.

I had overlooked a very important part of keeping out of the spotlight, however. I didn't consider that the humans might have other ways to detect a non-human being in their cities than sight. It didn't cross my mind since there were plenty of Beastkin walking around, but on second thought, those looked a lot like slaves. Not even a week had passed before a sound came from my inn door that sounded suspiciously like a vase salesman's knock. When I opened the door, a mistake I never would have made if I wasn't so annoyed, I was held at spearpoint by two generic, overly buff men.

"Oh shit!" Was what reflexively came out of my mouth. Nothing followed because my brain had shut down temporarily from the shock.

"The Emperor requests an audience with you."

I was stunned. I had almost thought that these three had come to straight up get rid of me or drag me to some old warehouse to lock me up with how they were acting.

"Uh... Shouldn't that be the other way around?" I asked, pointing out the issue. "Wouldn't I have to request an audience with the Emperor?"

"That's besides the point. You're coming with us."

"Wait, right now?! I've gotta pack my stuff. What about supplies? Isn't the capital like, two weeks away from here by carriage?"

The two men looked at each other, then back at me, and nodded reluctantly. "We'll return for you tomorrow morning, then. If you try to escape..."

"I wont!" I threw my hands up. "Seriously. I get it."

It was at this point I realized that I was acting in a way extremely out of character for how I looked, since I was just saying and doing stuff I would have done if I were met with the same situation in my original world, not like two men coming to your door with spears is very realistic anyway. Probably explains why they were so confused. The two men left, and I closed the door.

I walked into the room's bathroom and took a long look at myself in the mirror, something that I hadn't done since I came to this world. I had an thin, small figure, which made up for what it lacked in curves in cuteness. My face was very much the same, my pale skin emphasizing the royal blue color of my large, round eyes, and the rest of my features being just... so... fine. That was the only way to describe them. My nose, chin, eyebrows, all of it. It was all just so small, delicate, and...

"So damn cute!" I unintentionally squealed out loud. It felt like such a weird thing to say, since I was technically talking about myself, but I could stare into that mirror for hours on end without getting bored.

My silver-green hair seemed to let off a subtle sheen as the light of the lamp hit it. That was the one thing I had been able to enjoy without looking in a mirror, as it hung all the way to my waist and was so, so silky. That and the fact that my own skin was so smooth made it feel like I was some expensive porcelain doll. If I had met such a girl in my previous world, I would have instantly fell for her.

But sadly, this wasn't some girl I was looking at, this was me. And as much as I loved my new look, I would never go as far as to fall in love with myself. Because of this, the feelings I felt when I looked in the mirror were quite mixed.

Was I happy that I got such a cute form, or was I mad that I got one so unfitting of who I was? Could I even be considered myself anymore, or just some stranger with my memories? Thoughts like these always hit me whenever I looked in the mirror, so I avoided reflective surfaces as much as I could.

Well, it would have been much worse if I were looking at my old self, that's for sure.

On the day I came to this world, I killed two men.

They were bad guys, sure. They ended up taking the lives of hundreds of students, sure. But that didn't change the fact that I killed them with my own two hands. To those around me, I would have probably seemed like a hero. After all, I saved a full class of students from the explosion, even if those students were just a fraction of the students that attended the school. Or would they have been angry with me, for not having saved the rest of the school, too? Either way, people would have seen me as a brave kid. I could have been being praised by someone at the very moment I was thinking about this stuff, even thought it was at least a month after the incident itself.

But what would I have seen? If that blond-haired, thin, and not too well-built teenager showed up before my eyes, would I have seen something I was proud of? A hero? An Idol? Someone that I was proud of?

No, I was sure it was none of the above.

I would have seen a murderer.


	19. Chapter 19

Note to self: Not even the people of another world will let you oversleep in peace.

What is the use of an alarm clock if something else is just going to wake you up anyway? Not like my body needed sleep, but the feeling of being woken up on something other than my terms was annoying.

To be honest, though, an alarm clock would be much preferred to something like getting my door kicked down.

"..." I looked at the two men standing in the doorway, down to the bits of wood that used to be my inn room's door, and then back at them. "why?"

One of them slowly backed out of the room, and the other was forced to say something. He cleared his throat.

"We're leaving. " He said in a gruff voice.

Must be a hard job, being a messenger of the Emperor.

\---

Not much out of the usual really happened after I hopped into the carriage prepared by the two men and we took off in what I assumed to be the direction of the Capital. They stared at me with confusion in their gazes for at least a full minute before going back to their own devices. They must have really expected me to try and run away or something.

To be perfectly honest, I did consider running away. Who wouldn't have? If two buff dudes showed up to their house, even the most trustworthy and confident members of society would turn the other way and run as fast as they could. The mere sight of them was terrifying. The only reason I could sit there as calm as I was was the obvious.

I wasn't human. That'd been evident the moment I woke up in this world. I had wings which I could keep hidden, physical ability that could send rocks flying faster than bullets, and reaction time so quick that I could dodge an arrow that I didn't even see get shot. Even against the strongest of humans, those abilities sounded way too unfair. Maybe that's where the confidence came from. Or perhaps my uncertainty was a human trait that I no longer had. Thinking of it that way, it was almost as if I had ascended to a higher plane of existence. That thought alone made me laugh a bit. That's right. I was above human. While I didn't doubt that humans had magic or something similar of their own, I knew, in the back of my mind somehow, that not a single person had a chance against me.

I looked out at the scenery as the carriage continued its bumpy journey to the Capital. That's right. If I wanted to, I could have easily escaped, and the two in the carriage with me would have had no ability whatsoever to stop me. However, my curiosity got the better of me. What was an Emperor ruling over this sort of time period like? How would I be expected to act, and most importantly, how did they manage to find me? I considered myself a bit of a history buff despite struggling the hardest in that subject during school, and the idea of meeting the ruler of a nation set so far in the past excited me. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? Execution? I was sure that mere humans would not be successful in an attempt to do that, no matter the method.

Riding in a carriage really allowed me to take a look at the scenery of this world. Much more so than zipping above it all. While most of the ride was just through the middle of nowhere, with a few trees sprinkled throughout, we did pass a few small towns. I even saw one or two people wave.

Ah, but riding in a carriage was just so slow...

\---

If I had just flown, I could have reached the Capital in a day, tops. By carriage, it took a very long-and very boring-three weeks. I never had the ability to sleep on car rides, and even less so on a bumpy carriage. Luckily, I no longer needed sleep. Unluckily, I had no other way to spend my time.

At one point I just zoned out for hours at a time and only came back to reality whenever we hit a significantly larger bump. I assumed this would have been the round-trip for the men riding with me. How they dealt with the boredom, I had no clue. Trying to read them was like trying to read the Queen's Guard. Fitting, I guess.

Somewhere along the line, I started drawing out plans to build a commercial aircraft from scratch in my head while watching the endless green go by outside the carriage. In terms of how practical that would have been, it was somewhere along the lines of not at all. How would a medieval world have the resources to manufacture a massive cylinder with wings capable of flying around the world? It was a nothing but a time-killer.

After what seemed like ages, the carriage finally slowed, and walls as high as the clouds came into view. Why those were needed, I had no clue. It was nice and magnificent, so I didn't question it too much. We stopped at the gates, went through a quick check, and continued through.

Now that I was past the walls of the Capital, I felt a sense of panic that hadn't been a part of my emotional expression for a long while. I was about to speak with an Emperor here. As a 21st-century highschool student, I had no clue how I was supposed to act in front of the ruler of an entire race. Should I try to mimic what I had seen in movies? Should I try to act all egotistical and declare myself superior? Should I just straight-up start speaking English and pretend like I didn't know the language? I didn't even know what could have been considered offensive. What if I somehow made the man mad just by stepping foot in his presence a second too soon or something of that sort? No amount of otherworldly power is going to get me out of a situation like that, unless I somehow miraculously gained the ability to rewind time itself.

Luckily, I wasn't given the chance to turn around and run the opposite way the moment I got out of the carriage, since my "escorts" straight-up grabbed me and dragged me out of it first. One of them muttered an apology and clamped a pair of what I could only assume to be handcuffs around my wrists. All of this happened before I could even process the fact that we had reached our destination already.

"This was not what I signed up for." I said under my breath.

"My apologies." The man apologized once again, and started leading me towards the gates of an absolutely massive castle. Upon further inspection, it seemed as if the castle was a school of sorts, and students wearing the same uniform occupied all of the rooms, doing student things.

"This place looks more like a school than the home of an emperor." I pointed out

"None of the students have been told this, but the emperor's residence is right above them, and takes up the top three floors of the building." The man leading me explained. It was only then that I realized that I was only being led by a single person.

"That's... a strange place to live."

"Nobody knows of his reasons for doing so, since nobody knows that he's there in the first place."

"makes sense."

I was led up several flights of stairs, occasionally being given a strange look by a passing student or teacher, and finally coming to realize just how revolutionary the elevator was, until we reached what appeared to be the top floor. The man leading me traced a wall to my left, and a magic circle appeared where his hand came into contact with the wall. I stood there, stunned. It was the first time I'd seen anything remotely like a movie depiction of magic in this world. He motioned for me to stand closer.

There wasn't a flash of light or anything like that, which was what I had been expecting for being teleported, but instead I was suddenly in a completely different room from before, one that was huge and took up the entire floor, with a man sitting in a throne on the other side of it. A total of four knights stood beside him, but other than that the security wasn't as tight as I'd expected.

I looked around, hoping that the man who had led me here would give me an idea of what to do before an emperor, but he was nowhere to be found. I silently cursed him for tossing me into this situation alone. Before I could do anything, the emperor stood up and took long, slow strides towards me, his shimmering purple robe nearly touching the ground. Without a clue of what to do, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the appearance of the emperor, who had rich, purple hair that matched the color of his clothing and the general theme of the throne room. He had sharp facial features that made him look really mature, but in terms of physical age, the man looked like he was in his early 20's. None of his knights moved a muscle as he approached me, and I could feel my heart trying to explode out of my chest with each step he took. The stress I felt was worse than cramming for finals three hours before the test.

He continued at the same pace until he was about ten feet away from me. He then stopped and looked me up and down with a piercing glare that sent chills through my bones. I wondered if I should be saying anything, or kneeling, or shrinking into a corner.

Then, before I could do any of the above, the emperor's flowing robe came into contact with the purple carpet, seemingly blending with it. He fell to his knees, and brought his forehead to the same carpet in a perfect koutou. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed one of the knights flinch momentarily. I couldn't judge him, I was probably still flinching.

"Please, join humanity's battle." His voice was still intimidating, despite him being folded over on the ground before me. "I beg of you."

Of all the things I could have thought at that moment, my mind chose to do the most amusing thing of all, and I thought,

Ah, so this was what they meant by he was requesting an audience with me.

A/N: whew. finally caught up on both platforms. It's been almost a year since I've started and all I have is 19 chapters? Damn. I need to start writing something else too so I have an excuse for being so slow


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